#if anyone wants to add anything please feel free!
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Summary: Amid the severe consequences of war, Aemond finds himself alone, without the presence and support of his young and sweet wife, who insists on staying away from him, afraid of who he has become. He has been a respectful and patient husband. But tonight he feels like he has finally reached his limit.
Author's note: Please, pay attention to the tags. This story contains sensitive topics, such as: +18, SEX, SEVERE INTERNAL CONFLICT, DUB-CON/NON-CON, POSSESSIVE/OBSESSIVE BEHAVIOR, EMOTIONAL DEPENDENCY, TOXIC RELATIONSHIP AND MORE.
word count: 6k
There is no specific description of which house the reader belongs to, so feel free to fill this in as you wish.
English is not my native language, forgive me for any spelling mistakes.
Good reading!
He can taste vomit in his esophagus.
Aemond knows it wouldn't be too difficult to get out what little he ate. He coughs as discreetly as he can into the back of his hand before taking off his eye patch, wanting to splash some cold water on his face and throat. He pretends not to notice how his hands are a little shaky as he pulls the gloves off of them, cupping his fingers inside the basin left by the servants on the table. The cool water feels refreshing on his hot skin, and with a satisfied hiss, he looks up, staring directly at the reflection of his own face in the mirror.
The flickering flames of the fire near the wall provide no comprehensive illumination, and he is honestly relieved by that. What little he can see is disturbing enough. His single lilac eye is bloodshot, his silver hair is disheveled, so different from normal. Paleness in the face, sunken cheeks. The subtle glow of the blue stone in his other eye and the deep scars around it only add a dying touch to his ghostly visage.
Another deep tug wracks his stomach and he leans forward, gripping the sides of the table with abandon, preparing to actually throw up this time. But nothing comes, nothing but the painful, nauseating feeling in his body.
He can't forget.
It's all his doing, after all. It's all his fault.
The death of all those people, the desolation of the entire Riverlands. It's all his fault.
Any feeling of greatness and power that previously inhabited his body no longer existed. His superiority and confidence swept away by the tide until he was spat out on the shore with nothing but pain and trauma.
He is a hypocrite and he knows it.
Aemond is not a good person. He doesn't want to fool anyone with his anxiety attack, he definitely doesn't need to take on the role of the poor regretful guy. He doesn't regret what he did, he doesn't regret doing what was absolutely necessary for the good of his family. He could never regret this. And he knows that tomorrow, a week from now, or a month from now, he will do exactly the same thing again if necessary. There are no limits to what he is willing to do to and for those to whom he is loyal.
He can't even dare deny liking it all.
When he's on Vhagar's saddle, with the world in flames just beneath them and the addictive power to decide for good or ill for those poor, hopeless souls, he can swear he's never felt anything better. There's something disturbingly liberating about embracing the monster that resides in his chest. It's surprising to him how good it feels to be ruthless, to take on the role of the uncontrollable beast everyone says he is (rightfully so).
It wasn't always like this. But a series of violent and tragic actions that may or may not have been intentional earned Aemond more than just an ominous codename. They gave him respect; fear. Aemond One-Eye, the son without expectations, the child without any prominence. No more.
He feels ruthless when he is in the skies, dictating the fate of humanity. It gives him power. He is powerful now, he is no longer the boy forgotten by everyone. The feeling of being superior pumps hard through his veins until he goes wild, makes him feel like he's crushing people under the soles of his boots. He is more powerful. Their lives depend solely on the way his hand moves and it turns out that, to their misfortune and terror, his hands are wrapped around the saddle of the largest dragon in the world. It is difficult to be sensible and godly when there is so much power at his command. He is more powerful. There is nothing that can stop him. He feels invincible, unstoppable. He doesn't just enjoy it - he worships this feeling.
At least until it's all over.
When the dust settles and all that is left is the consequence of his actions, it is then that he quietly withers away.
He killed them. All of them. His hands are stained with blood and ash and it's all his fault. He has separated families forever, traumatized so many souls with insurmountable depression and pain and it is all his fault. Adults, elderly, children, babies. All dead. Because of him. Hoarse screams of terror and fear, all begging for a mercy that would never come - could never come. Not by his hands. Not when he had a family and a purpose he was so loyal to.
Aemond worships the sense of power that comes with a reputation for being ruthless and regrets nothing he has done and will do for his duty. Unfortunately, this does not mean that he does not suffer the consequences in equal proportion.
Another sigh. He drops his head and presses his fingers against the edge of the table. He closes his eye so tightly that patches of white light explode into his vision, each labored breath makes him lean forward and clench his teeth. The pain is impossible to ignore – it shakes his insides, leaves his limbs trembling.
"Is this hurting you?" a soft voice asks, a small, fragile thing, almost impossible to hear - if it weren't for the fact that he lives to hear the sound of that voice. He knows this, and so does the owner of the voice, both fully aware of this dangerous dependence. “Pretending to be a God, I mean.”
Aemond feels his heart beat faster, the angelic sound of your voice rescuing him from the merciless depths of his own mind, making him slowly raise his head as he stares at the place where the voice came from. He almost can't believe what he heard. But there you are, sitting on your bed, surrounded by comfortable sheets and pillows, your wide doe eyes catching the moonlight and fire flames in the dark of night, shining like stars.
His sweet wife.
He simply looks at you, not offering any kind of response right away. Not because he doesn't want to. But because he's too surprised to hear your voice and see your face to form words at the moment. Aemond doesn't know how he ended up here, in your private chambers - the place he hasn't been welcome in for some time. He was supposed to go to his chambers. Was he that distraught and distracted? Could the confusion clouding his senses have unconsciously led him directly to the person he needs most at the moment?
He looks around quickly just to confirm that, yes, there is no doubt that he is in your chambers. He didn't intend to do that. He shouldn't be here, invading your privacy and ignoring your request that he keep distance. Of course, his longing and need for you made him consider such a thing countless times. Regardless of your wishes, he was your husband; he had a right to be here. But he never did that. You don't want him in your bed anymore and you've made that clear. And Aemond was not ignorant or even insensitive enough to pretend not to understand your reasons. You had a lot of them and he knows.
You were not made for cruelty. Your innocence and purity made you unable to be aware of the horrible things he did and still treat him the same way as before. You were afraid of him now, just like everyone else. The blood of many was on his hands and you knew it, just as you knew he regretted nothing, and that he would not stop this - not until victory was achieved.
You didn't agree with that, you never did, not even before the marriage. But what could a young woman do in the world they lived in? You were just a piece on a board game, an ace up his sleeve used by your father specifically to provide armies and loyalty to the crown in exchange for a marriage and a more than convenient name for your family.
Aemond knew from the beginning that you didn't want to marry him; how could you after all? You barely knew him beyond the questionable reputation that surrounded him, and a dangerous family clash was about to break out in the kingdom - this was definitely not the right environment for romance to blossom. But you did your duty. You had been an exemplary wife in the short two months of peace that followed your marriage. You treated him with respect and patience, slowly opening your heart to him with each passing day. He wasn't the most talkative or the most sensitive husband and yet you showed empathy for his limitations, accepting what he gave you with gentle smiles and rosy cheeks, without demanding anything more. So sweet. So inocent.
It was no surprise the feeling that welled up in his chest.
Aemond was obsessed before he even realized it. Needing your gentle attentions like a flower needs the sun. He clung to you as his only comfort in an almost bleak existence, he became more and more obsessed with you and you didn't notice. You read with him, walked through the gardens with him and talked to him as you always did, kind and polite. And every day he felt hungrier, pushing the limits of restraint. You welcomed him into your bed every night, welcoming him between your legs as if he belonged there - and he did, indeed. Aemond's appetite for you and you alone knew no bounds.
But he wasn't the man you married anymore, was he?
You fear him now, any and all advances he's made with you over the past few months have vanished into thin air like the ashes he's so used to seeing now. The feelings he was carefully cultivating in your chest now seem to have sunk so deep into your being that he thinks they no longer even exist. You no longer craved his attention; the touch of softness and affection, whenever “husband” dripped from your mouth, was absent. And now all he could do was want.
Aemond doesn't look away from you, not wanting to miss this moment for anything, not after being deprived of it for so long. And you look back at him from where you sit on the bed, chin lifted in false courage. You looks at him with your bright eyes and high cheekbones, which seem even more highlighted in the warm lighting around your bodies.
He may have entered your chambers out of pure unconscious instinct, out of nothing but silent desperation. His body guiding him when his mind no longer could. But now that he's here, he doesn't know how he didn't realize it from the beginning. It's impossible to think about anything other than you. You, you, you.
At this point, deaths at his hands no longer existed. Not his pains or the weights he carries, not revenge, not duty. Anything. Absolutely nothing. There is only this moment, between him, a boy who so wanted to be enough for those he loves and the young girl who is illuminated by the light of the flames.
He feels it. It's not new. That strange impulse that draws all the attention of the environment around him to you and you alone; an almost painful need between his teeth to take a bite and not let go, to have it with all your heart and nothing less.
"Nothing to say?" You press and he's not even embarrassed by the fact that he doesn't remember what you said before. He should leave. It's all he thinks, even as he takes an uncertain step closer to your bed. And that's enough for you to immediately tense up, wrapping your small hands in the sheets to subtly pull them towards you. You are hiding yourself. Hiding yourself from him.
Aemond should leave, continue respecting your limits.
If this had been another night, maybe he would have done it. If the smell of smoke and dragon scales hadn't been trapped in the leather of his war clothes, as well as the dust of ash, then perhaps he could have left. If he couldn't smell the insistent scent of charred bodies and decimated land in his nostrils, taking permanent root in his lungs, perhaps he could respect your innocence.
Not even Aemond knew how on edge he already was. Your refusal of his proximity was just the final push to his downfall.
He adores you. He worships the ground you walk on. He respected your decisions and stayed away much longer than any other husband would have done. And this is how you repay him?
Aemond narrows the only functional eye he has left. You don't react, nothing more than another protective grip on the sheets and a slow swallow of saliva. He wants you so much and the thought enrages him. Why? Why does he feel this way? He desperately wants to punish you for making him feel this way. He wants to punish himself for even thinking about doing this to you.
You left him like this; nothing but a mess. When would you finally accept him for who he is? When would you understand that some cruelties were necessary for the final goal to be achieved? When would you see that everything he did and would do was solely for his family? For you. To keep you safe. When would he be enough?
He grits his teeth and feels his entire body tense with thoughts. He hates it; he hates the way you confuse him and make him feel all these terrible emotions. It makes he feels weak. The temptation of the slightest chance of your affection suffocates his common sense. He feels his hands shaking. He'd been so blinded by the hopeful, innocent vision he constantly saw you through that he fooled himself into thinking he was on your mind as much as you were on his all this time.
"Aemond?" You whisper, sounding more uncertain than before, disturbed by his extended silence as he slowly approaches the bed. He keeps looking at you the whole time, letting you glimpse the flames of fire reflected in the icy sapphire in his eye. He adores you, with every fiber of his being. But the flash of fear that shines in your eyes in response makes him stretch the corner of his lip in a malicious smile. He couldn't help it, there's something sweet and pure about you that makes him constantly waver between wanting to protect you and wanting to destroy you.
You try not to weaken before him, but Aemond immediately notices the way your body is a little trembling when his hand, that same hand that drags the musk of leather and death, passes through the fabric of the sheets, spreading lightning over your legs. You don't stop him, but your eyes flash with a frightened warning, a warning he ignores tonight. His palm flattens against your ribs, daring to caress, to feel the linen of the sheets beneath his fingers, the softness of your flesh beneath it, and you squeak an off-key sound, pulling the cocoon of blankets and furs up to hide you.
A small annoyed growl leaves his lips and his other hand quickly covers yours, stopping you from continuing.
"No. Enough of that." He says in a low but firm tone, looking sternly into your eyes. You part your lips, surprised by his behavior, and try to pull the hand still trapped by his, but he doesn't let you go. "That's enough, wife."
He thinks you might try to deny it, but you fall silent, slowly relaxing against his grip on your hand. Aemond wants to purr at this, wants to praise you and spoil you, because you are so good, so good. His good girl. Even when you're crushing his heart between your delicate hands.
It's not your fault, he tells himself. It's not your fault that he's obsessed with you, driven crazy by the idea of you. Aemond can't even focus properly, even when you're in front of him, defenseless and at the mercy of his whims. He can feel his heart pounding in his chest from pure ecstasy and excitement at the same time. And he can feel, on top of it all, the blood flowing to his hard cock, making it swell beneath his black riding pants. He feels embarrassed by his actions, but at the same time excited, just by the little things you do, by everything you are to him.
“Something is wrong with me...” He says, more to himself than to you, gently pushing a strand of your soft hair behind your ear, sliding his thumb in a gentle caress across your delicate earlobe. “You're in my house. You're in my house and I don't want you to leave. Never." He approaches your face, sliding his fingers from your ear to the side of your face, until he holds your small chin between his thumb and forefinger. "I need you." He continues, ignoring how honest and frank he looks - weak. “I keep thinking of ways to make this happen,” the more he talks, the faster you breathe, sweet little sighs near his lips, calling to him like a siren’s song… “I want to ruin you. Because I think that's the only way you won't leave me."
The intensity of his words scares you, he realizes, he sees how your eyes fill with tears and your eyebrows twitch. But even in the dim lighting of the flames, he can see how the tops of your cheeks turn red, how your chest trembles with the breath that catches there...you want him.
It's a shame you're so willing to keep him away.
But he can't stop.
Aemond closes the distance in an instant, pushing you down until he traps your body beneath his, feeling the contours of your soft, supple curves against him; he shudders. He caresses your face one last time before moving down, ignoring your hesitation and your useless efforts to push him away. Quick as a viper, he grabs the hand that moves to push against his chest, wrapping it with the other still attached to his, holding your wrists tightly above your head.
You cry out at the pressure on his wrists, the long lashes over your eyes fluttering, pleading. "A-Aemond, what are you doing?" you stutter. "Please, please... I said I needed it - please give me some more-"
"Time? Oh yes, you said it." He hums thoughtfully, placing a thigh between your legs, dipping his face into the crook of your neck to breathe in the fresh fragrance of your shower, snoring contentedly with your naturally sweet scent. Intoxicated by your scent, he trails his lips along the slender column of your neck before stopping at the shell of your ear. “I’m so sorry, dear, I’ve waited too long. We’ve both waited too long.” He intones, intoxicated by your presence. You sob once but don't say anything else, choosing to turn your face away from him. Aemond snorts a laugh at that, but doesn't stop you, preferring to leave a tender, wet kiss on your cheek.
Squeezing your wrists with one hand, he allows the other to slide slowly down your body, almost reverentially. He paused at the delicate laces holding the front of your nightdress before untying them with deft fingers. The front opens, exposing your silky, flushed skin to his hungry gaze. He doesn't have the patience to remove the fabric completely from your body, so he just lowers it enough so that your breasts are exposed. He bites his lip, holding a curse between his clenched teeth. When he presses his bare palm to your perky breasts, he tastes your trembling innocence, your soft flesh.
So beautiful.
So pure.
From the beginning you were his opposite, your delicate hands, as irritatingly clean as his are stained with blood and ash.
As much as he truly suffers from the consequences of his actions, he never regrets them, because he knows they are right - necessary. There was only the future to shape, the past should stay where it belongs; behind him. Something he had learned through much pain, but unfortunately, his sweet wife had not yet. But as he runs his greedy fingers down your body, feeling the goosebumps on your soft skin with each touch, Aemond knows he scares you as much as he excites you. You can't hide it from him. Your obviously involuntary response to him only makes him fiercer, hungrier. He wants to ruin you from the inside, until you can't bear to live a single day without his touch.
He allows you to continue your theatrics, still stubbornly staring at the wall while pretending his actions don't affect you. There's something almost too tempting about it, in fact; It's a matter of honor for him. He will break your masks and he will take pleasure in doing so.
Letting his fingers slide down your sides, Aemond's lips wander. He kisses the hole in your throat, moving down with wet, licked breaths to your breasts, tasting you. You gasp softly and grip tight fists on the bed sheets when he captures a soft nipple with a slow suck of lips and a teasing scrape of teeth, your body curling beneath him tightly. He smiles with your nipple still between his lips, leaving wide, warm trails of his tongue on the little perky bud. His hips slide against the inside of your parted thighs, pushing the hardened bulge in his pants against your pussy once.
You bite your lip and close your eyes, but he doesn't stop. With another thrust he uses his strength to push you back onto the bed, the bed you shared many nights with him, to fuck you into the warm sheets. It's almost too much for him to finally feel your little pussy once again, even through the leather of his pants and your delicate nightwear. But he continues with slow, strong thrusts, rubbing his cock against you in a way that teases your clit, the smell and heat of his effort wafting throughout his body; sweat, dragon, fire, ash, blood, death - all mixed together, merging with your own sweet, intoxicating scent and, of course, the unmistakable scent of sex.
Before the chaos broke out, Aemond was quite skilled at this, at driving you crazy. A part of him is extraordinarily pleased to find that he still remembers correctly, especially when a press of his fingers and a twirl of his thumb on your slobbery nipple makes you gasp. He wants to see you, to see you blush and sweat, looking ruined for him. Gods, oh yes, Aemond wants this so much. He can't stop, he can never stop, especially with you singing so sweetly to him. When you arch into his touch and whisper his name softly, like a secret no one can discover, his breath hitching. Aemond can't stop.
A specific thrust makes you let out a high-pitched meow, your hands pulling at the linen on the sheets and he moans along, releasing your breast with a wet pop to look at your face. You have your lips parted, your long eyelashes touching the top of your cheeks, your eyebrows furrowed in sweet agony. He thrusts a little faster, rubbing your clit with more pressure, taking in your presence and the feeling of your tiny, supple body, preening at every sound that leaves your lips.
Sounds so sweet, so beautiful; he considers himself a sinner with the way something so innocent and angelic makes his blood boil and his cock throb with need inside his pants, surely soaking the fabric with the way he feels himself leaking.
“Fuck, you’re going to kill me, baby...”
And yet, he doesn't think he cares about dying by your hands when things turn out like this. He is admitting defeat without any embarrassment now; he can bear the dull weight of war, he can bear his own mind trying to destroy him at every turn, he can bear the betrayal of his own family and the demands of his duties. He can bear with anything.
Anything except being without you.
With an impatient grunt, his fingers tug at the soft skirt of your nightdress, bunching the thing at your waist as he rips your underwear down your legs. You don't try to stop him, but you don't try to help him either, remaining almost motionless against the bed, and he feels like he can growling at you like an animal for that - stubborn girl. He hates and loves this about you in equal intensity. He's almost rough and punishing as he hooks the back of your knee into the inside of his elbow, pushing your leg up to your breasts. And then you're giving up your fight, sighing - all anxious expression, furrowing your eyebrows and biting your lip as he hurriedly unzips his pants and pulls them down just enough to pull his cock out, slamming the wet, throbbing head over your clit before sliding his entire length along your folds.
You moan, he moans. The slide is wet and he can't tell if it's all you, if it's all him, if it's all both. He doesn't care, honestly. All that matters is how his cock is thrusting into your heat, hitting your clit with luscious pokes, coaxing more of those sweet sounds from your pretty lips.
He hooks your other leg in the crook of his elbow and does exactly what he did with the other, trapping you between him and the bed in a position where your entire pussy is presented to him. With his hands flat beside your head, he brings his face closer to yours, the leather covering his chest pushing your knees further into your breasts. You moan through your teeth, unable to do anything but tighten your hands around his shoulders. He smiles slowly, drunk on the sensations, still gently sliding the length of his cock into your folds.
Aemond doesn't look away from you, enchanted by the way you dance between looking at the sapphire stone and the deep lilac of his functional eye. You've always done this, he thinks - saying one was as beautiful as the other, impossible to choose.
“I’m giving myself to you, love…I’m yours.” He whispers softly, husky, needy to you. "Will you do the same from now on?"
He’s so close he feel how your heart races violently at his words, slamming against your ribcage as you take a deep breath. Every expression on your flushed face makes him sure you're going to have an intense crying fit, but even when the liquid in your eyes pours down the side of your eyes, you keep yourself almost in one piece. You look deeply into his eye as your shoulders shake. "Y-yes." You exhale, fragile. “Yes, yes, yes,” your voice sings repeatedly, with quick, confused nods, tears streaming from your eyes.
He can't hold back the husky sound that leaves his lips, his cock pulsing in reaction to your obvious fragility exposed to him.
"Yeah?" He asks breathlessly and it's very slow - as he thrusts inside you, thrusting his hips back and forth once, twice, three times until your pussy swallows as much of his cock as it can, until the tip of his hip bones rub it against your thighs. And it's so intense, so obscene – the position he puts you in, the full weight of his body pinning you to the bed, broad shoulders hiding you from view, silver hair like a curtain around the two of you, your mouth falling open in a silent scream and his releasing small curses between clenched teeth... debauchery.
You give his shoulders a few desperate slaps as he fills you, your tight ring of muscle stretched to accommodate his girth, and no matter how long it takes him to prepare you, no matter how wet you are, he knows there's always that initial pain that rips through your groin as he pushes into you. It makes you sway beneath him, little tearful sobs that are like the sweetest song to him.
Another curse muttered in deep Valyrian was his only warning as his palms sink into the softness of the bed. Your own hands looking desperate too, one tangled in the silver base of his hair at the back of his neck and the other gripping the material of his leather shirt, a strangled moan catching in your throat as he begins to fuck you slowly. You can only hold on as he pulls and pushes his body above you with each deep thrust, his impatience shown only in the forceful and violent way in which his hands grip the bed sheets.
He leans into you a little more, moving his hips in different ways, testing the angles until he makes more of those tears well up in your eyes as your pleasure increases almost painfully. Your moans quickly turn into babbling when a particularly strong movement of his hips makes you shake all over. The way your tight pussy tries to contain him and suck him in at the same time drives him crazy, feral.
He won't last long. He already knew this before it even started, but now, feeling your walls squeezing the life out of him after so long deprived of it, with your cute little noises getting louder and louder, with your expression drunk with lust and sadness, the buzz of battle still vibrating through his veins... Aemond feels release approaching shamefully fast for him.
He'll make it up to you later, Aemond promises himself. When the hot need subsides at least a little in his system, he'll take off his dirty war clothes, maybe ask you to take a shower with him. He'll soap your body and tease you until you're riding his cock in the tub at your own pace, his fingers rolling your little clit with each bounce of your hips. He will lay you on the bed and love every inch of your soft body, worship your skin with kisses and hickeys. He will part your thighs and bury his fingers and tongue in your wet softness. He will rip orgasm after orgasm out of you until you are hoarse from screaming, until your body is physically unable to continue.
He will do it all.
He has done it in the past, many times.
Now, however, all he needs is to find his release, to unload those months of forced distance inside his trembling body. But Aemond will be damned if he doesn't bring you along with him.
He leans down to press his forehead against yours, pushing your legs against your body further, lips parting with hoarse, breathless moans that escaped him with each thrust and the sweet pleas you murmured incoherently. The movement of his hips quickens, one hand leaving its blunt grip on the sheets to squeeze between your thighs, poking your clit in tight circles, his cock hitting a spot inside your walls that makes you shiver and tremble in anticipation.
“Aemond…” you cry, digging your nails into the back of his neck, pulling his body towards yours, as if you weren’t already physically as close as possible.
He growls at your plea.
“My little, innocent wife,” Aemond giggles wildly as your pussy clamps down on his length again, your climax approaching, his thumb rotating a steady rhythm on your clit. If only your mind was clear enough to form a coherent thought, maybe you'd complain that the rhythm of his cock in your pussy would be painful, that the continuous and harsh scratching of his clothes hurts the soft and delicate flesh of your body, but you don't say anything, not now. You just accept what he gives you. And he knows you missed him as much as he missed you. “Always so good to me baby.”
Aemond watches you intently, unable to look away from the pleasure that shows on your face. You're shaking, lost in your wet breaths and high-pitched, broken cries, your legs trapped between his body, welcoming him. You're tight and small, his sweet wife, and Aemond can feel your cracks stretching, a spider's web of fractured thought and temptation too much for anyone to bear, and as much as he knows it's impossible, he wants this moment to last forever. Aemond is undone. A fool in love. And it's sad. And it's beautiful. It's being at home.
"Mine." His murmur echoes next to your lips, both of you breathing each other's breath, his rhythm starting to falter, the searing heat rushing through his body beneath those layers of heavy clothing makes him dizzy, but he doesn't stop, he doesn't stop. “So pure, so beautiful, so delicate…” he caresses your clit without faltering with a rumbling purr as his cock swells inside you. “Ngh...oh fuck, so tight. You're going to get everything, aren't you, darling? All of me.” His own teeth graze your neck as you arch and scream in pleasure. “Be a good girl and don't let anything leak, hmmm…”
He fucks you roughly, your name dancing on his lips like a prayer in the dark. Aemond savors this moment with the veneration it deserves, the final chase. The two of you so broken, so vulnerable, shaking with pleasure for each other. He rubs your pussy, hips slamming into you at lightning speed.
And finally, gods yes, it finally happens.
"Aemond! A-Aemond, please! Please-" You throw your head back, your lewd pleas turning into a broken scream as you explode around him. Your face is flushed and glistening with a subtle sheen of sweat, tears streaming down. It's all he can take. You convulse and break and the sensation of his cock swelling with the resulting explosions of hot cum filling you follows shortly after. As your body and pussy tremble and clench, he finally releases his own pleasure, biting down hard on your shoulder to muffle his husky moans, spilling himself deep inside you, the continuous spasms of your orgasm milking every drop from him. You and he cum together, and even in the hazy haze of climax, he thinks he's never experienced something so sublime, so perfect.
You're both shaking as you come down from the waves of mutual pleasure, and Aemond is especially careful now, gently unfolding your legs from that tight position to allow you to stretch them, which earns him a long, grateful, relieved moan. He slowly pulls away until he's kneeling between your thighs, watching raptly as you bite your lip as his cock leaves your heat. A tight grip circles around your parted thighs, lifting them up a little to expose your dripping pussy. He looks almost in awe as he watches his seed flow steadily from your abused pussy.
But Aemond is selfish and his cum doesn't belong on the crumpled, sweaty sheets. No, he told you to keep it safe inside you and that's what would happen. His fingers slip into the wet mess of cum in your folds, pushing as gently as he can all the thick liquid inside you again.
You're too tired to react, but you still sob softly at the sensation, subtly squirming on the bed, legs shaking from being held in the same position for so long. He looks at you, icy lilac gaze half-lidded with lust, blue stone glowing in the flames of the fire. He looks at the soft, creamy flesh of your sweaty body. He longs to see dark spots and bite marks, a way of proving that you belong to him. He lifts his head, sinking his teeth into the soft flesh, just above your left breast. His teeth leave crescent moons on your skin and you scream loudly at the stinging sensation, but you don't stop him. He walks away, admiring the constellations he had traced on your skin. Painting you for him, marking you as something unique to him.
You sniffle and blink wet eyelashes at him. He kisses his bite, murmuring gentle words to you, his lips trailing up with soft sucks and wet kisses in your throat until he brushes against your lips. And it's then, and only then, that he realizes he hasn't kissed you yet. He doesn't know why he didn't do it, given that it's probably the thing he misses most about you. Feeling the softness of your lips on his, the gradual way a small, innocent kiss quickly evolves into something more urgent, the way you immediately struggle to keep up with his pace, his hunger as he swallows your cute sighs and your ragged breaths as he suck your tongue.
Yes. This is what Aemond longs for. How easily he could make you fall apart in his hands.
Taking into account the way that you blush and look down at his lips, you're thinking the same thing. He smiles mischievously, slowly leaning in for a deep kiss, fingers damp with your juices and his cum resting on your jawline. Your little hands sink into his hair until you lightly scrapes your nails across his scalp, making Aemond shudder. The fingers of his other hand cup your hip, tracing the line of the bone in gentle patterns. His nose bumps yours as his tongue dances in your hot mouth, spreading in you the taste of smoke and revenge that seems to follow him at absolutely every moment now. And like his perfect antithesis, you gasp, let him savor your sweet, fruity flavor - so fuckin sweet.
Your legs circle his waist, making him press against your heat, quickly reigniting the flame of need within him. You lick it off his tongue, moan when he sucks your bottom lip and bites it, you beg between quick breaths and Aemond continues to rub himself against you, the kiss becoming sloppier, driving him crazy with how irresistible you are in this state. You give yourself completely to Aemond, without asking questions or making new complaints, and it drives him crazy.
"You are mine. Only mine. And you will never leave me again, do you understand?" He murmurs as he pulls away, both of you panting, looking seriously into your water-bright eyes, noting how they're a little wide and your mouth is swollen and wet from his kisses.
A few tears slide down your face, but you smile shakily at him, the hand in his hair stroking the silver strands lovingly.
"I am yours, Aem. Now and forever." Honesty bleeds into your shallow voice, your little fingers on your other hand tentatively tangling with the buckles of his shirt to open it.
Aemond rests his forehead against yours and truly smiles for the first time in a long, long time. Not a malicious, mocking or condescending smile... No, this time his lips are stretched into a small, but genuine, honest smile.
And it's because of you.
Because he knows he got what he wanted so much. He has you again. He was resilient, he was patient and he was fair. He fought and, with his efforts, created a space just for himself within your heart. He knows you're still unhappy with everything that's going on, and no matter how much he wants to, he can't change that. He can only strengthen you to bear it. It can only burrow deeper into your body and your heart until you are able to forget the atrocities that are happening around you - the horrible things that he is doing. It's a gaping hole in your chest that leaves you continually bleeding, he knows, but the exposed cut is so sweet, and here he is, licking the wound like an animal, with all the violent, relentless gentleness he has to offer as the vengeful prince that he is.
He wraps his arms around you, pushing his cock back into your abused pussy in a deep movement that draws a broken sound from both of you, pulling you against his chest. He rubs his sweaty face against your throat, your face, your hair. His voice syrupy and thick as he whispers, "I love you."
Fuck. Aemond would never let you go.
#aemond targaryen#house of the dragon#aemond targaryen smut#ewan mitchell#aemond targaryen x reader#aemond targaryen fanfiction#aemond imagine#aemond one eye#aemond x reader#hotd x reader#hotd aemond#prince aemond#aemond x fem!reader#dance of the dragons#aemond smut
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hello and welcome! this account is going to host an event much like @lautski-week @holloweaneweek and @lexthan-week for paulkins (hopefully) this fall/winter season! before then, i'd like to do an interest survey; please fill out the attached form if youve got any, wel... interest. an qna section will be under the cut to clear up most confusions sooner rather than later, but my inbox is open if you need any clarification!
QNA
Q: what is this event?
A: paulkins week will be an event dedicated to celebrating paul and emma's relationship!
Q: is participating in the interest check required for participation in the event itself?
A: absolutely not! the interest check is just to get an idea of when exactly to hold the event and what i can expect to see during it
Q: will there be formal sign-ups later?
A: nope! this event is just for fun, anyone can participate whenever
Q: what can i make?
A: anything you want! draw something, write a fic, make a moodboard or a stimboard or an edit, make something physical, genuinely whatever you can think of for any prompt is welcome
Q: do i have to do all seven days?
A: definitely not! do only one, do every other day, pick a few specific ones that speak to you, do the whole week AND the alternatives -- however you want to participate is perfectly fine
Q: what are alternatives?
A: alternate prompts that can be done in place of any given prompt for a day. for example, if you dont like the prompt for day two, you can do something for one of the alternates instead!
Q: how do i post?
A: however you normally would! just make sure you add the tag "#paulkins week" and i'll most likely see it; i'll be watching the tag all week! if you want to be absolutely sure i see it, feel free to tag me too!
Q: can i post to other places?
A: absolutely! if you want anything posted off-site to be featured on the blog, though, you'll have to at least post a link here on tumblr
Q: can i post an already existing piece/wip if it fits a prompt?
A: as long as it hasn't been posted anywhere before, go for it!
Q: can i still post if i'm late?
A: definitely! i'll stop reblogging anything three days after the event ends, but whatever is posted in that window will be featured under "#honorable mentions"
#paulkins#paul matthews#emma perkins#team starkid#hatchetfield#the guy who didn't like musicals#tgwdlm#nightmare time#nmt#forever and always#paulkins week#info post#interest check#mod speaks
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What’s the best place for me to get dark age info for my own silly little destiny blorbos
Dark Age info is kinda scattered all over and there isn't much concrete data, but we do have bits and pieces! Anything with Iron Lords. Shaxx and Drifter is a good start. I'll link some of the lore books that are the best start.
The Black Armory Papers - A diary from Henriette Meyrin, Ada-'s mother and one of the Black Armory founders who made her way across the world with her daughter in the early Dark Age.
Constellations - A lore book from the perspective of the various Speakers, relevant pages are 3, 4, 5 and 6.
The Pigeon and the Phoenix - A lore book about Saint and Osiris, there are pages that are set in the Dark Age (most notably about Osiris and Sagira in Moth to a Flame part 1 and 2) and early City Age.
The Liar - Felwinter's lore book.
Rememberance - weblore about Felwinter and Shaxx.
A Man with No Name - Drifter's lore book.
Confession of Hope part 1 and 2 - Two chapters from Ghost Stories lore book from the perspective of a Ghost who took pity on a family that lost their child and rezzed the child (who ends up being Shin Malphur; speaking of, almost everything with him involved is also a good treasure trove on the Dark Age, here's my post about him).
Acts of Mercy - Lord Saladin's lore book about his time in the Dark Age (warning for graphic descriptions of injuries).
Shaxx and Mithrax discuss things they've done in the Dark Age
Some short grimoires: 1, 2, 3
Most important things to know: Dark Age lasted for an indeterminate amount of time between the Collapse and the City Age (when the Last City was officially founded). It's impossible to know how long this lasted due to the nature of loss that followed the Collapse. Everything humanity had was lost; technology, knowledge, time-keeping. Humans weren't even able to leave Earth for a long time during the Dark Age.
Humans lived in scattered groups of survivors, either on the road or in small villages. Lightbearers were mostly Warlords, given that they were superpowered immortal beings that were keeping control over large swaths of land and fought amongst each other for territory. A lot of humans lived under the control of Warlords where they exchanged work and other services for protection. Not all Warlords were merciless, but most of them were, with no one to answer to.
At some point during mid-late (?) Dark Age, Iron Lords formed, the first Lightbearers that we could effectively call Guardians, given that they decided to use their powers to protect humanity and stop Warlords abusing their powers. They died looking for SIVA, which they believed could help humanity rebuild settlements on Earth and beyond (which could've worked if Rasputin didn't panic when unknown life forms started rising from the dead).
The conditions of living during the Dark Age were harsh. There was a severe lack of basic resources such as food and water, there were many threats from simple exposure and starvation, to literal aliens and superpowered humans killing people indiscriminately. Villages were very basic and there was an overall regression of the state of living. Golden Age ruins were everywhere but they were poorly understood and in many cases entirely incomprehensible to Dark Age humanity. These conditions lasted way into the City Age because it took a long time for people to hear about the Last City and reach it safely.
The Awoken and Exos were present in the Dark Age, given that the Awoken emerged from the Distributary at some point in mid-late Dark Age and a portion of them left for Earth. Both were quite rare, with Exos being rarer.
#destiny 2#dark age#iron lords#drifter#shaxx#mithrax#lore vibing#long post#ask#if anyone wants to add anything please feel free!#also if there are any more specific questions feel free as well
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I have feelings about this...
Until Dawn is a game where YOUR CHOICES AFFECT THE STORY. That is the core of the game. I don't like the idea of the movie definitively saying 'these are the canon choices', but then again, maybe it's one path...
The story is also tailored to the player in a way. Like, if you say you're scared of needles in the segment with Dr Hill, the killer will chase you with a syringe instead of a tank of gas. They're probably not going to be able to adapt that, which is a damn shame...
There's something unique about Until Dawn that I don't really want lost in adaptation.
There's also the issues with the monsters in the game being of Native American origins. I cant speak for how accurate or respectfully they've been represented in the original game as im not Native American (from what I've gathered, their appearance is better than some other uses, but thats about it), but if they're going to use them, it's better done with someone from the Cree tribe (the tribe used in the game, if i remember correctly) at the helm. Also, please cast someone of Native American descent as Jack Fiddler.
So yeah, I really love the game but it is a game which needs to be adapted with respect and sensitivity.
#also for the love of all that is good#please treat Josh's character with RESPECT#he deserved a much better fate than the one he got#if anyone else wants to add anything them please feel free to do so#until dawn#supermassive games#i dunno what else to tag#rhi's rambles#i know that these issues are drastically different in importance#like#native american representation#vs choosing your story#but those were the two things i could come up with#i would also talk about josh#but i think ive rambled enough for now
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As someone who doesn't like vice versa I dare you to try make me like jimmysea
SKFGDSKFGSKDGFSKDGF I—i mean if they're not really your thing i doubt anything i could say is gonna make you like them but YEAH OKAY SURE WHY NOT I CAN TRY
let's meet our boys separately first!!!!
jimmy. actor, doctor, babygirl. frankly has my undying admiration even just for being able to juggle his acting job while also studying to become a dermatologist and somehow succeeding at both literally could never be me. people tend to dislike him for his role as wai in bad buddy, but you only need to watch any bts video from the show to see how much he is adored by everyone and if anything that should be proof of the absolute range he has as an actor. avocado enthusiast and self proclaimed extrovert (is he tho. is he really), don’t get fooled by his quiet and responsible appearance, he’s actually the most deranged man in the industry. i still remember the day an anon told me he improvised nomming on his co-star's face and using a pillow to suggest stripping said co-star down and eating him out all in the name of Acting™ because i've never been the same ever since. the me before and after i was given this information are completely different people
sea. actor, athlete, dog dad. you won't get a single objective thought out of me because i am: Disgustingly Fond. debuted with a killer performance in the show 55:15 never too late as a supporting character, the fact that he's somehow still so underrated when he's one of the best actor in GMMTV makes me want to bark bite maim kill. he is an actual ray of sunshine with a smile that could light up the entire world and also the perfect example of an introvert: he has the innate ability to somehow disappear from any social gathering, but if he wakes up in a silly goose mood you will find him shamelessly twerking in front of everyone and being an absolute goofball. he's also a great singer and goes along with everything jimmy does because he is a big Simp™ (who's more deranged, the one who noms first, or the one who noms back, this is the question)
and now onto them as a pairing!!!!!
jimmysea. with a 5 years difference between them, they are actually the pair with the biggest age gap in GMMTV, which could have come in the way of their on- and off-screen relationship, but from what we are privy of i think you can see in every interaction they have that they clearly adore and are incredibly fond of each other. maybe it's because they share the same kind of derangement, or maybe it's because they both are very hardworking and humble boys who always try to give their best, but somehow they work. as the older one jimmy is always there to help and guide sea however he can, but when he needs it sea is ready to step up and carry the weight for him. they may not possess the kind of chemistry that's all sparks and fireworks, but they have a quiet gentle intimate one that makes them look like they've been married for years, which is also helped by their insane ability of looking at each other with so much love and adoration in their eyes it feels like your heart is getting curb stomped against the sidewalk. they don't really know what fan service is and they can go weeks without seeing each other (the drought eras), but when they do hang out they usually go out to eat and swim together (preferably at the pool in sea's condo after jimmy drives him back)
..not sure why this came out as a sales pitch tbh ;;;;;; honestly there are a lot of things i could add and if i were to convince you to like them i should probably send you links to videos and stuff like that but. im not really good with this sort of things ;;;;;; (i guess i could still suggest you to watch their praew interview to have an idea of their dynamic)
in the end all i can tell you is why i personally like them, which is mainly because what transpires of their relationship feels very genuine to me and they seem to be really sweet boys who just stand in their introverted corner minding their business doing their own thing portraying high romance and giving incomprehensible levels of adoration derangement goofiness talent ability skills. THEY ARE JUST SO COMFORT SHAPED TO ME IDK WHAT ELSE TO SAY
#me looking at myself in the mirror every single morning: today you're gonna be normal about jimmysea and vice versa and last twilight#me every single day without fail: [is embarrassingly deranged about them]#BUT IDK I FEEL LIKE I DIDN'T REALLY DO A GOOD JOB BECAUSE I SHOULD HAVE PROBABLY PULLED OUT VIDEOS AND PICS AND EVENTS BUT#can't believe i failed both my boys and anon#if anyone wants to add anything to this please feel free to do it!!!!#jimmy jitaraphol#sea tawinan#jimmysea#m: ask
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i think this is a good example of the situation(tm) with spain and fascism and how it's very different to other european countries like italy or germany.
this news article says that the government pays more than 9000€ per year to mantain franco's tomb (and by the government it means, well, the taxpayers). for those who don't know, francisco franco was a fascist dictator (friend of hitler and mussolini) that ruled spain from 1939 til 1975. he died peacefully. in his bed. after 4 decades of ruling. this is one of the key points regarding all of this.
and you might be thinking... well, the right wing party must be the ruling party for this to happen! lol no. we are currently under a pretty left-leaning government (this will probably change next month btw, there's general elections on april 28th). this is the government who passed the so-called trans law. and, most importantly, this government exhumated franco's body from his monumental funerary monument to a normal cemetery.
this is the monument in question, btw, it's called valle de los caídos (valley of the fallen) and it was built by the people franco sent to concentration camps throughout the country.
and yes, you read that well. franco's body was here until 2019. the monument was visited (and still is visited) by tons of fascists, who would do the nazi salute, fly the francoist flag, and chant francoist chants. all while the police was just there (but that's no surprise, isn't it). now, those people just go to the new location of franco's tomb.
oh, btw, on april 24th 2023 (4 days ago as i'm writing this post) there was another exhumation in the valley of the fallen (i just found out that since 2022 its name officially changed to 'cuelgamuros valley'. sure), this time of josé antonio primo de rivera, son of the dictator of spain from 1923-1930, and founder of the falange española, a fascist organization that became the only political party during the franco regime (yes. this is the equivalent to the nazi party) that btw still exists as a political party. so that's also lovely. this shouldn't come as a surprise, as la legión española, the military faction most closely allied to franco before, during, and after the civil war, still exists and they parade sometimes. you've probably seen these guys, there's a weird thing where people thirst over them on twitter:
anyways, this all boils down to the continuist nature of fascism in this country. fascist symbols are not banned, and neither is the flag or the hymn. i heard so many times the cara al sol (the francoist anthem) in high school sung by the kids who thought being a fascist was cool. again, franco's body wasn't exhumated until 2019 and with tons of polemics, delays and protests (protests!!!!). primo de rivera's wasn't exhumated until this very year (also with protests). and, meanwhile, there's more than 1000 mass graves still unearthed in spain, most of them filled by republicans who either were killed during the war, or right after it. one of them is the poet federico garcía lorca, considered one of (if not the best) writer in spanish history, and killed for his sexuality in 1936 by francoist soldiers. and, with him, thousands of people have been lost to time. in 2022 (83 years after the war ended) the government opened a 'mass grave searcher' on the ministry website, in order to look if your lost relative had been discovered.
i've talked about this before, but as another example, my great-grand father was unjustly sent to prisioner in 1939 for being a republican. he even spent some years in death row before being released after 5 years. he was officially pardoned by the government in 2017. he died in 1989.
also, something that has been particularly evident during this government, is that fascists are very much alive and have a ton of power. and politicians are either one of them or scared of them. keep in mind that spain has had multiple military and fascist uprisings and coup de états in the 20th century, it's very recent history. that, summed with the terrible job done during the transition period of not divorcing themselves with the francoists or just banning everything to do with them (that 'terrible job' happened because well. there were a lot of fascists there), makes for fascism being painfully present in spain all throughout the 20th and 21st century, so it's always been here, and very obviously so, and that's why it's so fundamentally different from other european regions.
this is what happens when fascists win and fuck up everything. spain is a perfect example of it. i love maps, but everytime i see alternative history maps (and there's a ton of them) that are like 'europe but hitler won ww2' i get the irk because 1) the person making that post is probably a nazi, and 2) that's just what happened in spain. the 'nazis won au' is just 20th century spain. and the consequences of that still ooze to this date. so yeah. that's all i have to say i think.
#spain#tw: fascism#tw: nazism#i finally did it! the doñana post made me motivated enough to write a full-length post lol#this is just an informative post i guess? i don't think many people outside of spain are aware of our situation#i glossed out over a ton of stuff cause i'm not very informed about all of this but if anyone has any questions or wants me to tackle#anything else please let me know#and fellow spaniards feel free to add stuff to this post!!#anyways there's general elections in exactly one month so that'll be scary
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Hello, orokay!! I've adored your art for years now and I was wondering if you have any tips on how to draw and paint/render scars? I can never seem to get them to look right, any help is appreciated! Hope you're having a good year!
Hi anon, thank you so much!
Sorry this took a minute to reply to, I've been trying to figure out how I wanted to respond. For me, a lot of questions about how I do certain things are kind of tricky bc generally the answer is 'idk I just try things and tweak it until it feels right' and I don't really feel qualified to give art advice bc most of the time I'm just making stuff up as I go, but I know that's not really a helpful answer 😭
My art style tends to lean towards simple and stylized, so for scars I try to limit them to three colors at most, less if I feel like I can get away with it. It also depends a lot on the scar since there are different types of scars. Usually how I pick the colors I use is: one color darker than than the skin tone (shading), one slightly lighter than the skin tone for the injured flesh and occasionally an even lighter color for highlights. I'll include some examples under the cut. But please please please keep in mind wrt scars 99.9% of the time I'm just winging it and going off of what I think looks cool, I don't know anything about the science behind how people scar so please do your own research if you want to be accurate.
I'd say when approaching/researching scars you need to consider a few things:
Skin color of the person- Scars look different on different skin colors and different people scar differently. I think this is one of the biggest things to remember! Color pick for the scar based off of the character's skin tone and shade. The color you use for scar tissue on a person w/ light skin is going to look unrealistic and out of place on person with dark skin, doubly so if the undertone of their skin is different (ie. warm vs neutral vs cool undertones). It's so important to look up references because everyone scars differently and skin type can make a huge difference on how a person scars.
Color of the person's blood- same vibe as with blushing/lip color/etc. if your character has blue blood, the scar likely isn't going to be pink. This probably isn't something you're going to have to keep in mind a lot, but just in case. This also kind of ties into the first one because if a character has a non-human skin tone, like blue, and red blood then the scar is probably going to be more of a purple tone, for example.
Type of scar- think about the injury and what kind of scar would result from it. I'm not a doctor so idk how scarring works and generally go off of vibes, but if you want to make it as accurate as possible, I'd suggest looking up images of scars from whatever type of injury you want your character to have. I used to work with dogs and I scar easily so I have a lot of bite/scratch scars. Some of them are lighter than my skin and raised while others that were less deep are darker and on the surface of the skin (aka no texture). My brother has a very deep dog bite scar that's left a dent in his skin and light, pink and shiny scar tissue. Basically, if you know you have the stomach for it, I 100% suggest looking up examples of the type of injury you're thinking of so you can see how that injury tends to scar. Is it hypertrophic? Atrophic? Keloid?
How was it treated and how old is the scar?- is it a burn scar that received skin grafts? is it a surgical scar? stitches? did it heal well or was there infection? All of these things can change how a wound heals and scars. New scars are going to be much more stark, especially if they're still healing, and most scars fade over time.
Examples under the cut...
Some examples from my drawings over the years:
OC w/ healed burn w/ skin graft stylized and very simplified // really simple, sketchy scars on Narci:
This iteration of Blue's blood is green so the scar on her cheek is green (we're going to ignore her lips and the flush on her ears lol):
raised scars on nikora and blair's cheeks:
#answered asks#i cannot stress enough i go off of vibes 99.9% of the time im not an expert anything i get right is purely by accident#pleaaaaaaaaaase do research#if anyone else has actual medical knowledge and wants to give tips/point anon towards resources please feel free to add on#i'd like to learn more too ^^
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Lately I've been going through a lot. I've been experiencing a lot of transphobia on top of my depression and PTSD. I've been struggling a lot with creativity and what art means to me, in addition to being in a ceramics class while my wrists are having a huge flare up making the wheel work I want to do near impossible. I see trans bodies celebrated in art and it means the world to me. I wonder why do I feel unable to do the same? Coming to terms with the fact that I still carry a lot of internal shame surrounding my body and my sexuality. This is not sexual artwork to me, more of a self portrait. More of a love letter to myself. I brought clay home to work with and kept scrapping everything I tried to make, until I sort of accidentally made a t dick. I thought about it, planned it in my head, and started it over with intention. It's been such a struggle to enjoy making art. And I enjoyed making this. Going over familiar curves, smoothing out the cracks and bending the clay in a way that felt so natural. I want to fire this piece and maybe even add underglazes to it, but I'm still so nervous because it's a classroom setting where multiple people will see it and handle it if I don't make time to load and unload it from the kiln myself, which I probably won't. But why should I feel ashamed? Cis women make art of their vaginas all the time. Breasts too. Someone a few weeks ago had a mug decorated with naked gay men they made in class. Trans bodies deserve the same respect and love as cis bodies. I love my body. I just want to show trans bodies are normal and nothing to be ashamed of. I don't have anywhere I share things like this, so it's going here. I may have a breakdown later and end up scrapping it, I might not. I love being trans and I love every trans body. Trans bodies are nothing to be ashamed of. What will I do with the finished piece? No idea. Where does one put a porcelain penis? Perhaps I could make it a wall piece. But despite what I may or may not do with this, it was really important for me to share this. I love my body. If I could only sculpt trans dick for the rest of my life I think I'd be happy. Something to do with trans existence being a constant experience in self creation. Every trans body is a work of art. I am endlessly creating myself and I think that beautiful.
#nudity#please let me know any tags i should add to this#ftm#my art#theres a lot more i was going to go into but i like keeping this post a little lighter#i know i dont usually like post dicks on here or anything. probably wont again. or maybe i will. who knows#if readmores worked on mobile id add one. appologies#but um feel free to like and reblog my intention is to share my art and experience#since its kinda personal i just wanted to make clear that its okay. but also no pressure or anything lol#i dont have the braincells today to write as eloquently as id like but thats okay#trans love#trans joy#trans pride#i love my transgender self#i am enough. it is not important to change myself to make myself palatable or desireable to anyone#being openly myself is the best choice i get to make every day#also its not finished im drying it out a bit before i touch it up
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how serviceable is the machine translation for volfoss? it seems like you’re able to understand the plot fairly well using it if i’m right. and what is the gameplay like? i’m more interested in playing it from your posts, i’ve always wanted to but never got around to it
FUCK YESSS ok so. A few things. I am pretty used to working with machine translation and kind of working with how stilted it can be. I've translated comics this way and it can be a massive pain at times. From the last time I tried to do this with a game -> now (maybe 8 months or so?) Google translate has really upped their game with getting more accurate/good translations. I use a mix of Google translate and Yandex, and then match it with checking a Japanese to English dictionary when I need to (sometimes Google and Yandex completely disagree on something, so using a dictionary helps a lot in those cases). Volfoss itself is kind of a peculiar beast with translation solely because of names. The machine translation does not play nice with names because they are spelled odd. For example, an enemy called Iron Meiden will NEVER get translated with the proper spelling. The protagonist, Shalvas, gets translated as MANY different names, so it's kind of a pain to work with that. Places have the same issue. Where a machine translation might put Korel as Kolel or anything in that range, it rarely gets it right. One of the major locations, Caldealand, gets spelled 5 different ways and there is never any reason for it. Thankfully, the in game gallery has the English names for creatures and characters, and the map I just got has the proper English for the places. This is probably not like. A big issue for most people but it's something that I'm pretty anal about because I don't want the translations to be super bad and inaccurate. In the guide I'm working on, I have a massive glossary for the names and places due to how finicky this is.
All of that to be said, I definitely do understand the plot with this, but there are a LOT of frustrating things when you're first getting used to it. I can send you the guide as it is right now if that would help, as I think the long list of characters and the summary of the first route I've nearly completed could be helpful :) I'm also here to help anytime.
As for gameplay, it's a trpg, so you move your characters from tile to tile and choose attacks. It's kind of hard to explain but from what I understand it's similar to fire emblem (haven't ever played it but my friend who has says it's similar). It's honestly not too bad after you get used to the combat, there's just a LOT of story crammed in there if you're bothering to translate all of it. There's a lot of specific systems that from what I can tell are pretty unique to volfoss (you get gems and can make combos with them, and that's how you can make your attacks/defense have certain attributes. Not explaining that well at all but. There's a lot of weird stuff to it I think. There's also a system for getting enemies to join your team both temporarily and permanently and just a lot of other stuff that can make it complex to give a short summary of gameplay).
Tldr: machine translation is definitely viable, however, when it comes to proper nouns it is a VERY scary experience. This was my first trpg and I got used to it pretty easily so I wouldn't say it's too bad?
#asks#SORRY THIS IS SO LONG. theres been a lot of like. complications to put it lightly. with this but i would be down to add u on discord or smth#and then help u from there :) it's super fun and def worth playing imo. i also just love to complain bc the translation can be a big pain#sometimes but its not too bad#ive like. scoured pretty much every source online for it and that is why im kind of making this massive guide. because the info is scattered#and no one cared abt it enough to like. actually scan manuals or maps or ANYTHING.#this is also super disjointed sorry theres a lot of info there. but i plan on starting work on a website that keeps all of this stuff in one#place to make it easier. please feel free to reach out tho :) i can give u my discord and help walk u thru it :)#long post#jic sorry i LOVE to talk and ramble and theres been a lot of thought w working w this in the first place so. again im here to help and here#for anyone that wants to play it :)
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Any advice for rper's who have little fate in their writing ability (there are people who write more words and are more detailed in their writing than them) and want to please practically everyone and want everyone to like them (at least a lot of people)?
Hi anon! I'm sorry for taking an hour to get to this, I wanted to have time to dedicate -- you deserve a, hopefully, coherent answer.
I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to start this with a personal anecdote because I feel like we are, or have been, in the same position. I've always fretted because I don't have a style to my writing; I admire deeply everyone's writing and their ability to tie it back to them... but I didn't have this. I change my writing style for every muse I write. No two replies are of the same quality. It's natural to want people to like what you do, to be able to say 'hey, x wrote that!' and to love it simply because it's yours. However, I have found the best way to combat this feeling is to remember:
Do what makes you happy. I know that gets said a lot, maybe to the point of it being redundant, but this, I've found, is the best way to be comfortable in your ability to write (you do have one, even if you don't feel like it); by doing what you do, and by finding things to love about what you do, you will draw people to you. There will be, are, people that love your writing, even if they are quiet about their praise.
The truth is, we can't help comparing ourselves to others. Competition is engraved into us by either external resources or by those closer to us, who've no idea the ramifications that will come of it. We will always see someone that we feel is better than us in some way, even whenever we think we've healed this aspect of ourselves. It's like an angry little demon that emerges whenever you're at your most confident to drag you down again.
But ask yourself this whenever those moments strike: am I happy doing what I am doing? Was I always ashamed of that reply, or did that only come after being introduced to a wave of negative thoughts?
You're on the exact same pedestal as everyone else. No one is greater, no one is worse. Just as you think highly of them, there's someone out there, many someone's, that think highly of you as well... even if you don't think so.
It isn't how much you write, or how detailed you are. It's about what makes you happy. And I promise you, you being you, and you being proud of what you do and unapologetic in doing so, that'll draw people from near and from far to you - because everyone's work, no matter if it's "obscure," no matter if it's "gotten no likes," no matter if it's "years old and not as good" - there's someone out there that loves it. I've personally thought of many replies I've seen in passing via my dashboard, via me visiting random blogs and seeing a stunning reply or an amazing headcanon post, I've attached characters to people I don't even know simply because of how much they love that character.
People have done the very same for you, too. I promise. ♥
Take it easy on yourself anon, I hope I helped some.
#If anyone else has anything they want to add please feel free to do so!#And thank you for coming to me with this; I appreciate that you trusted me with something like this. It means the world to me. <3#I hope your weekend is fun; stress-free; and full of love. Take good care of yourself.#specific ooc tag.
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although my first request was achilles idk much about patroclus. you said he's one of your favorites so you know other ancient texts that mention him besides homer?
IT TOOK SOME TIME, BUT HERE IS YOUR PATROPEDIA!!!
Hey! Patroclus doesn't have AS MUCH lore as some other mythological characters, but there's still enough for this post to be long, so get ready! Fortunately, it's divided into topics, so it should make it easier to read with pauses.
And some details:
Since you said "ancient texts", I'm assuming non-mythological texts count and I'm going to put them here.
My focus is on Greek texts because I don't know much about non-Greek sources, but there are some non-Greek texts here.I’ill indicate which are the non-Greek ones so that no one confuses them with the Greek texts. As I'm already considering texts from the Archaic, Classical and Roman Greece, I'll consider Byzantine sources as well. So be aware that some of these texts have a considerable amount of time in between.
It's also important to say that I'm only including the ones that >>I<< know Patroclus is in, there may be others! And I'm not a classicist or anything like that, any part here that is my interpretation (it will be very obvious when it is) is...just an interpretation of an ordinary person. It is not a super historical, contextual analysis, etc. For the love of god, don't think you have to agree!
The links go to the exact points I mentioned,so it’s easier for you to check.
Check the "References" part in the end!
My English can be broken, especially in such a long text.
FAMILY
Father: Menoetius
From what I've seen, Menoetius being Patroclus' father is a constant characteristic of his character. Now, just to clarify some ideas:
"Patroclus is the son of a titan"
I've heard this one, but guys…he's not! It's just that there's a titan named Menoetius, but it's NOT the same Menoetius. Patroclus' paternal grandfather is Actor, and this titan's father is Iapetus and not Actor.
[...]And Actor's son Menoetius[...]
The Iliad, XI, 938. Translation by Robert Fagles.
Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled maid Clymene,
daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed.
And she bore him a stout-hearted son, Atlas:
also she bore very glorious Menoetius [...]
Theogony, 507-510. Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White.
"Patroclus' father was an Argonaut"
That's right! There is indeed a Menoetius son of Actor from Opus among the Argonauts.
Moreover Actor sent his son Menoetius from Opus that he might accompany the chiefs
Argonautica, 69. Translation by Seaton, R. C.
"Patroclus' father is the brother of Achilles' father, Peleus"
This wasn't invented! There are fragments attributed to Hesiod, and fragment 61 is a commentary by a scholiast of Homer named Eustathius mentioning a Hesiodic tradition in which Menoetius and Peleus are brothers.
Eustathius, Hom. 112. 44 sq:
It should be observed that the ancient narrative hands down the account that Patroclus was even a kinsman of Achilles; for Hesiod says that Menoethius the father of Patroclus, was a brother of Peleus, so that in that case they were first cousins.
Catalogue of Women, frag 61. Translation by Evelyn-White, H G
Mother: Sthenele, Periopis, Polymele, Democrateia, Philomela
Patroclus' mother is not a fixed tradition, her identify changes depending on the source.
Achilles was also accompanied by Patroclus, son of Menoetius and Sthenele, daughter of Acastus; or the mother of Patroclus was Periopis, daughter of Pheres, or, as Philocrates says, she was Polymele, daughter of Peleus.
Library, 3.13.8. Translation by James George Frazer.
If we consider Philocrates' version, then Patroclus' mother is Achilles' sister, which makes Achilles Patroclus' uncle. This makes me think that Philocrates probably didn't follow the Hesiodic tradition of Menoetius and Peleus being brothers, or Menoetius would be marrying his niece. But who knows, after all Arete and Alcinous in The Odyssey are married and they're niece and uncle. Or it could be another Peleus, though I have never seen that name on another character before.
Damocrateia was also attributed as his mother by a scholiast of Pindar in the Olympian Odes. And here is the moment when you expect me to post another excerpt in English, but that won't happen because I simply DIDN'T find it in English! But I found it in Greek and, activating Google Translate, the translation comes out completely messed up, but you can see that the information is really there and wasn't invented by Wikipedia! And if you use a translation website, it's less confusing to read but it's definitely not 100% accurate yet.
Anyway, it’s in poem 9 scholia. From what I understand, it’s basically telling about the nymph Aegina, daughter of the river Asopus. She first gave birth to Aeacus (son of Zeus), who is the father of Peleus and Telamon (Telamon is the father of Great Ajax and Teucer). She subsequently went to Thessaly, where she had a relationship with Actor and gave birth to Menoetius. Menoetius settled in Opus and had Patroclus with Sthenele or with Damocrateia. The part mentioning Democrateia is more specifically poem 9.106.b! In 9.104.a, it's said that Democrateia is also Aegina's daughter, so basically in this version Patroclus is a child of half-sibling incest. As Aegina is the mother of Aeacus, who is the father of Peleus, who is the father of Achilles, Achilles and Patroclus are cousins once removed.
There is also Philomela, mentioned by Homer's scholiasts in 343 and 134 (both in Greek). There was no translator that could save me, so I had to ask for help from someone who understands Greek and, apparently, the scholiasts weren’t sure whether or not she could be considered Patroclus' mother. It wasn’t really a statement like in other cases.
Sister: Myrto
There is a daughter of Menoetius and therefore sister of Patroclus named Myrto. In this version given by Plutarch, she had a daughter with Heracles named Eucleia. This makes Patroclus a kind of brother-in-law of Heracles.
Now Eucleia is regarded by most as Artemis, and is so addressed; but some say she was a daughter of Heracles and of that Myrto who was daughter of Menoetius and sister of Patroclus, and that, dying in virginity, she received divine honors among the Boeotians and Locrians. For she has an altar and an image built in every market place, and receives preliminary sacrifices from would-be brides and bridegrooms.
Aristides, 20.6. Translation by Bernadotte Perrin.
I only found this mention of her as Patroclus's sister.
Brother: Abderos
The version of Abderos, one of the characters considered between the lovers of Heracles, being the brother of Patroclus is found in Photius' Bibliotheca. This Bibliotheca is Photius giving reviews of the books he has read, so this version isn't his, but rather the person he's evaluating. In this case, he attributed this myth to Ptolemy Hephaestion's New Histories (because of a passage in the Suda, there is a theory that this Ptolemy is Ptolemy Chennus. In this case, Ptolemy Chennus is from Roman Greece. So although Photius is Byzantine, the version isn’t from Byzantine Greece). Again, Patroclus is a sort of brother-in-law of Heracles.
The centaurs who fled from Heracles through Tyrsenia perished of hunger, ensnared by the soft song of the Sirens. Abderos, who was loved by Heracles, was the brother of Patroclus [...]
Photius' Bibliotheca, 190.39. Translation by Roger Pearse.
I only found this mention of his as Patroclus's brother. And in case you read the part where I say it's a review and wondered what Photius' opinion was on Ptolemy's versions... well, he wrote “a work really useful for those who undertake to attempt erudition in history; it can, in fact, give the method to know in a short time connected elements, whereas a long life would be consumed in the effort of locating them in the books through which they are scattered. It abounds in extraordinary and badly imagined information; and the peak of absurdity is that he attempts, for certain trivial fables, to explain the reasons for their appearance.”
My take
Although the fragment attributed to Hesiod establishes Menoetius and Peleus as brothers, the other sources don’t seem to make this connection between them. Peleus 99% of the time isn’t Menoetius' brother, but Telamon's (and Phocus' half-brother by Aeacus). On the other hand, Actor appears to mostly have children with Aegina, Menoetius being one of them. So I think it's more likely that the most popular version would be that Patroclus entered Aegina's lineage as Achilles' cousin once removed, rather than first cousin. Patroclus' siblings are only mentioned in much later sources, which leads me to believe that they’re a more recent version of the myths and perhaps in older versions he was an only child or his siblings didn’t have important myths. As for Patroclus' mother, it’s impossible to deduce anything besides Philomela seems to have been the only possible mother to be cited with doubt by scholiasts.
As I can't be sure of Patroclus' most popular attributed mother (although I theorize that perhaps it could be Sthenele since she was the only one I saw mentioned in two different sources), I won't do his maternal lineage or it would take too long. But, by his father's side, Actor is apparently the son of Myrmidon and Pisidice and has a brother named Antiphus.
[...] and Pisidice had Antiphus and Actor by Myrmidon.
Library, 1.7.3. Translation by Sir James George Frazer.
However, there are surprisingly a fair amount of “Actor” in the mythology, so while being descended from Myrmidon fits in with Patroclus becoming a Myrmidon, I'm not sure if we're talking about Patroclus' Actor or someone else. Although Menoetius is king of Opus, his family doesn’t originate from Opus according to Pindar.
[...] until the ruler of Olympus carried off the daughter of Opus from the land of the Epeians, and lay with her peacefully in the glens of Mount Maenalus, and brought her to Locrus, so that age would not overtake him and lay the burden of childlessness on him. His bride was carrying in her womb the seed of the greatest god, and the hero rejoiced to see his adopted son, and gave him the same name as his mother's father, Opus, a man beyond words in beauty and fine deeds. Locrus gave him a city and a people to govern, and strangers came to him from Argos and Thebes, from Arcadia and Pisa. But among the settlers he chiefly honored the son of Actor and Aegina, Menoetius [...]
Olympian Ode 9. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.
PRE-TROY
As a child, Patroclus killed another boy and, as a result, was sent to Phthia, where he met Achilles. Sources we have regarding this are:
"[...] just as we grew up together in your house,
after Menoetius brought me there from Opois,
and only a boy, but banished for bloody murder the day I killed Amphidarnas' son. I was a fool —
I never meant to kill him — quarreling over a dice game. Then the famous horseman Peleus took me into his halls,
he reared me with kindness, appointed me your aide. [...]"
The Iliad, XXIII, 102-108. Translation by Robert Fagles.
[...] At Opus, in a quarrel over a game of dice, Patroclus killed the boy Clitonymus, son of Amphidamas, and flying with his father he dwelt at the house of Peleus and became a minion of Achilles.
Library, 3.13.8. Translation by Sir James George Frazer.
I haven't found any other version that explains why he met Achilles other than being exiled to Phitia, so I imagine it's constant in Patroclus myths.
Patroclus is mentioned among Helen's suitors by Pseudo-Apollodorus.
Now the kings of Greece repaired to Sparta to win the hand of Helen. The wooers were these: -- Ulysses, son of Laertes; Diomedes, son of Tydeus; Antilochus, son of Nestor; Agapenor, son of Ancaeus; Sthenelus, son of Capaneus; Amphimachus, son of Cteatus; Thalpius, son of Eurytus; Meges, son of Phyleus; Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus; Menestheus, son of Peteos; Schedius and Epistrophus, sons of Iphitus; Polyxenus, son of Agasthenes; Peneleos, son of Hippalcimus; Leitus, son of Alector; Ajax, son of Oileus; Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of Ares; Elephenor, son of Chalcodon; Eumelus, son of Admetus; Polypoetes, son of Perithous; Leonteus, son of Coronus; Podalirius and Machaon, sons of Aesculapius; Philoctetes, son of Poeas; Eurypylus, son of Evaemon; Protesilaus, son of Iphiclus; Menelaus, son of Atreus; Ajax and Teucer, sons of Telamon; Patroclus, son of Menoetius.
Library, 3.10.8. Translation by Sir James George Frazer.
And by Pausanias:
At a spot called Arainus is the tomb of Las with a statue upon it. The natives say that Las was their founder and was killed by Achilles, and that Achilles put in to their country to ask the hand of Helen of Tyndareus. In point of fact it was Patroclus who killed Las, for it was he who was Helen's suitor. We need not regard it as a proof that Achilles did not ask for Helen because he is not mentioned in the Catalogue of Women as one of her suitors.
Description of Greece, 3.24.10. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.
Although Hyginus isn’t Greek, Fabulae (attributed to him) was intended to collect Greek myths and present them to a Roman audience — that's why the Latin names. So I’ll be considering it here as a source of Greek myths.
SUITORS OF HELEN: Antilochus, Ascalaphus, Ajax, son of Oileus, Amphimachus, [Ancaeus], Blanirus, Agapenor, Ajax, son of Telamon, Clytius the Cyanean, Menelaus, Patroclus, Diomedes, Peneleus, Phemius, Nireus, Polypoetes, Elephenor, Eumelus, Sthenelus, Tlepolemus, Protesilaus, Podalirius, Eurypylus, Idomeneus, Leonteus, Thalpius, Polyxenus, Prothous, Menestheus, Machaon, Thoas, Ulysses, Phidippus, Meriones, Meges, Philoctetes. Older writers mention others.
Fabulae, 81. Translation by Mary Grant.
Chronologically, Patroclus wouldn’t have been old enough to become Helen's husband (he would be at least 7/8 years old and at most just over 10). I really don't know if it's a case of myths contradicting each other in chronology or if perhaps the intention was to achieve an engagement rather than a direct marriage or even a connection (Odysseus himself was among the suitors, but focused on Tyndareus and Penelope rather than Helen). This version doesn’t seem to be a case of more isolated myth like Menoetius and Peleus being brothers. I also imagine it happened before Patroclus was sent to Phitia.
Although people consider Patroclus training at Pelion, there are no Greek sources that show him there, only Roman ones. I imagine that Patroclus' current association with Chiron is to make sense chronologically that he grew up with Achilles, since Achilles in most sources spent a considerable portion of his childhood with Chiron. In this post I exemplify this better.
As for Patroclus going to Troy, we have:
“[...] And your fathers filled your ears with marching orders.
The old horseman Peleus urging his son Achilles,
'Now always be the best, my boy, the bravest,
and hold your head up high above the others:
And Actor's son Menoetius urging you, 'My child,
Achilles is nobler than you with his immortal blood
but you are older. He has more power than you, by far,
but give him sound advice, guide him, even in battle.
Achilles will listen to you-for his own good:
So the old man told you. You've forgotten. [...]”
The Iliad, XI, 934-943. Translation by Robert Fagles.
Here it seems that the reason, or at least the main reason, Patroclus was in Troy is because Peleus wanted him to be with Achilles.
[...] And in that way Achilles went to Troy. [...] Achilles was also accompanied by Patroclus, son of Menoetius [...]
Library, 3.13.8. Translation by J. G. Frazer.
Once again it appears that Patroclus went to Troy as Achilles' companion.
He’s usually described as going to Troy accompanying Achilles. The character of Patroclus actually seems strongly linked to going to Troy, since in some versions he’s one of the suitors and therefore took the oath. And even if we consider authors who didn’t mention Oath of Tyndareus, Patroclus follows Achilles. It's as if there was an effort to avoid the possibility of Patroclus not having gone to Troy, which makes sense because his character is essential to the development of the tenth year of war. Bro was reaaaaaally doomed by narrative lol
PERSONALITY, ROLE AND CHARACTER
Note: most of the things I wrote are more on the objective side, but this is the most subjective part of the post. So, of course, it's perfectly possible for you to disagree.
The uncommon “gentle” epithet
Patroclus was portrayed as gentle by Homer. He may not be what we see as "gentle" today because a soldier isn't exactly the picture of gentleness in modern times, but by the standards of the time and even among Homeric characters, Patroclus was considered gentle. It isn't a modern invention, as some people think.
When Menelaus announces the death of Patroclus, this is how he describes him:
[...] So here Menelaus paused
with much to command Meriones and the Aeantes:
"Ajax and Ajax, captains of Achaea, Meriones too,
remember Patroclus now, our stricken comrade!
That gentle man, the soul of kindness to all
while the man was still alive...
Now death and fate have got him in their grip."
The Iliad, XVII, 751-757. Translation by Robert Fagles.
When thinking about the fate of mortals, this is how Zeus describes Patroclus:
Now,
when Zeus who arrays the clouds saw Hector from afar,
strapping on the gear of Peleus' godlike son,
he shook his head and addressed his own deep heart:
"Poor soldier. Never a thought of death weighs down
your spirit now, yet death is right beside you ...
You don the deathless arms of a great fighterand all other fighters tremble before him, true,
but you, you killed his comrade, gentle, strong,
and against all rights you ripped the immortal armor
off his head and shoulders. So great power for the moment
I will grant you to compensate for all that is to come:
never again will you return from battle, Hector,
nor will Andromache take that famous armor.
Achilles' deathless armor, from your hands."
The Iliad, XVII, 227-239.
When mourning the death of Patroclus, Briseis said:
[...] So now I mourn your death — I will never stop —
you were always kind."
The Iliad, XIX, 355.
One of Priam's sons, Lycaon, when begging to be spared by Achilles appeals to the memory of Patroclus and describes him thus:
[...] Listen, this too-take it to heart, I beg you
don't kill me! I'm not from the same womb as Hector,
Hector who killed your friend, your strong, gentle friend!"
The Iliad, XXI, 107-109.
Note: In The Iliad, it's said that this Lycaon had been defeated before, but wasn't killed by Achilles because he was sold. In frag 1 of Cypria, it's said that Patroclus was the one who sold Lycaon in Lemnos. If we consider the possibility that it was the same in the Homeric tradition, it makes even more sense that Lycaon tried this strategy.
And Achilles:
"[...] But I and our fast stallions will not race today,
so strong his fame, the charioteer they've lost,
so kind — always washing them down with fresh water,
sleeking their long manes with smooth olive oil. [...]"
The Iliad, XXIII, 320-322.
Besides Achilles, Menelaus, Trojans (Briseis and Lycaon) and a god (Zeus) related Patroclus to kindness.
In The Iliad, the heroes generally have epithets that refer to:
Their appearance (ex: Menelaus with “xanthus/blonde/red-haired” and Ajax with “giant/gigantic”)
Their abilities (ex: Achilles with “swift-footed” as an example of physical ability and Odysseus with “tactician” as an example of intellectual ability)
Their role (ex: Agamemnon with "lord of men/shepherd of people" because he’s the leader of the Achaean army)
Their ancestrality (ex: Diomedes with "Tydeus' son")
They’re all epithets that somehow magnify them in war. They're big, they're fast, they have an important lineage, they play a big role. Patroclus has epithets like these too. He is "dear to Zeus", he is "Menoetius' son", he is "great-hearted". And yet he’s the only one who has the epithet "gentle". Everyone who receives personality-related epithets still receives warrior or strategic/wisdom epithets, but Patroclus also receives “gentle”.
Homer intentionally emphasized this characteristic of Patroclus and never treated it as a weakness, but rather as a quality. Gentle or kind only appears describing Patroclus after his death, as if these two things were linked (Menelaus and Briseis feel affected by Patroclus' death because he was kind to them, Zeus talks about how Hector is destined to die for having killed Patroclus while associating Patroclus with kindness and strength, Lycaon tries to win Achilles' mercy by remembering that Patroclus was kind, Achilles speaks of his horses' grief at losing a kind charioteer). The preserved memory of Patroclus by those who mourn or speak of his death is not just his strength or his courage, but his gentleness. This makes me think that the choice to make Patroclus the only hero to receive this type of epithet is precisely to aggravate the tragedy of his destiny — Achilles was the most affected, but he wasn’t the only one to mourn between the characters and even the listener/reader.
Impact of Patroclus' death and his relationships
Although there is the joke of Menelaus and Ajax recovering Patroclus' body for Achilles' sake (because of Menelaus' lines in XVII, 100-120, mainly "and haul the body back to Achilles — somehow. Things are bad, but that would be the best"), Menelaus actually demonstrated a strong protective reaction toward Patroclus' body before he thought of Achilles.
But Atreus' son the fighting Menelaus marked it all—
the Trojans killing Patroclus there in the brutal carnage—
and crested now in his gleaming bronze gear Atrides
plowed through the front to stand astride the body,
braced like a mother cow lowing over a calf,
her first-born, first labor-pangs she'd felt.
So the red-haired captain bestrode Patroclus now,
shielding his corpse with spear and round buckler,
burning to kill off any man who met him face-to-face.
But Euphorbus who hurled the lethal ashen spear
would not neglect his kill, Patroclus' handsome body,
The Iliad, XVII, 1-11.
Menelaus even fears that he would be left behind and die, but he still doesn’t abandon Patroclus and gets help. The Trojans' plan was to recover Patroclus' body and give it to Hector, who wished to depreciate his body by feeding it to dogs. If this happened, Patroclus wouldn’t have a dignified burial, something that is already important in modern culture, but in this specific context it would also prevent Patroclus from having adequate rest after death. Ensuring proper burial was VERY important, which is why it's impactful when one character tries to stop another from having it (like Hector wanted to stop Patroclus’ burial, Clytemnestra wanted to stop Agamemnon and Cassandra’s, and Achilles almost stopped Hector’s. In the Odyssey, there's even a story precisely about Odysseus having to ensure that one of his companions is buried when they’re on Circe's island). That's why the Achaeans were so determined to recover the body.
Menelaus being the one who first protected Patroclus' body and one of those who tried the hardest to do so actually draws my attention to the detail that Menelaus and Patroclus are relatively similar characters in Homeric tradition:
Both are related to a more well-known and powerful figure (Achilles and Agamemnon)
Both were avenged by this figure (Achilles with Hector's death, Agamemnon by helping to recover Helen)
Both are portrayed as gentle and calm people compared to the other characters (I'm already talking about Patroclus here, but Menelaus even wants to spare a Trojan if it weren't for Agamemnon intervening and easily forgives Antilochus' fraud in the competition. In The Odyssey, Menelaus is depicted as an ideal host. It really seems like Menelaus only becomes angry and violent towards Paris, but it makes sense)
Both are the characters that receive the most uses of apostrophes (I’ill elaborate on this later)
Automedon at first doesn’t have time to mourn, after all he’s fighting for his life, but he’s also grieving.
[...] Automedon fought as he rode, though grieving for his friend,
swooping in with the team like a vulture after geese. [...]
The Iliad, XVII, 529-530.
In Automedon's case, he has problems because Xanthus and Balius (Achilles' immortal horses) don't want to move because they’re depressed about Patroclus' death. Automedonte even says that the only person who could truly control the horses was Patroclus, but now he’s dead and cannot help. Patroclus' absence is then immediately felt by Automedon, who like him had to deal with Achilles' horses and will have to do it alone.
When Menelaus asks Antilochus to give the message to Achilles, this is the description of Antilochus' reaction:
Antilochus listened closely, hating every word.
He stood there speechless a while, struck dumb...
tears filling his eyes, his strong voice choked.
But he still would not neglect Atrides' order.
So handing his gear to a loyal aide Laodocus,
who maneuvered his pawing horses close by, he set oft'at a run
The Iliad, XVII, 782-788.
And when Antilochus tells Achilles, he keeps crying.
As such fears went churning through his mind
the warlord Nestor's son drew near him now,
streaming warm tears, to give the dreaded message:
"Ah son of royal Peleus. what you must hear from me!
What painful news-would to god it had never happened!
Patroclus has fallen. They're fighting over his corpse.
He's stripped, naked-Hector with that flashing helmet.
Hector has your arms!
The Iliad, XVIII, 16-23.
Antilochus kneeling near, weeping uncontrollably,
clutched Achilles' hands as he wept his proud heart out
for fear he would slash his throat with an iron blade.
The Iliad, XVIII, 36-38.
Antilochus's strong reaction to Patroclus' death, the way he knows Achilles well enough to fear that he will hurt himself as an initial shock reaction, and the fact that in the Odyssey and later myths Antilochus becomes Achilles' second closest companion after Patroclus' death makes me think that Antilochus was actually one of Patroclus' closest comrades. Antilochus is also one of the youngest in the army (a characteristic emphasized by Menelaus in the Book of Patroclus' Funerary Games), so he was probably closer to the age of Achilles and Patroclus.
Although Achilles' anger was well known, this wasn’t his first reaction to Patroclus' death. In Book XVIII we see how he throws sand at himself, pulls his hair and Automedon even holds his hands because he is afraid he will cut himself. The initial impact of Patroclus' death on Achilles wasn’t to make him want to hurt/kill someone, but rather to want to hurt/kill himself. And even after Thetis guarantees that she will bring an armor for Achilles to go to battle to avenge (because his is with Hector, who took it from Patroclus), in the meantime between that and him actually receiving the armor Achilles is absolutely depressed. He doesn't even eat, meaning he actually chooses to hurt himself. After receiving the armor from Thetis, he enters the most violent stage and at the end of The Iliad he slowly begins to recover.
Even Briseis and other women mourn Patroclus' death:
And so Brisets returned, like golden Aphrodite,
but when she saw Patroclus lying tom by the bronze
she flung herself on his body, gave a piercing cry
and with both hands clawing deep at her breasts,
her soft throat and lovely face, she sobbed,
a woman like a goddess in her grief, "Patroclus—
dearest joy of my heart, my harrowed, broken heart!
I left you alive that day I left these shelters,
now I come back to find you fallen, captain of armies!
So grief gives way to grief, my life one endless sorrow!
The husband to whom my father and noble mother gave me,
I saw him tom by the sharp bronze before our city,—
and my three brothers-a single mother bore us:
my brothers, how I loved you!-
you all went down to death on the same day...
But you, Patroclus, you would not let me weep,
not when the swift Achilles cut my husband down,
not when he plundered the lordly Mynes' city
not even weep! No, again and again you vowed
you'd make me godlike Achilles' lawful. wedded wife,
you would sail me west in your warships, home to Phthia
and there with the Myrmidons hold my marriage feast.
So now I mourn your death — I will never stop —
you were always kind."
Her voice rang out in tears
and the women wailed in answer, grief for Patroclus
calling forth each woman's private sorrows.
The Iliad, XIX, 333-358.
Other members of the army are also mentioned lamenting. But, in addition to the emotional impact on people, there is the impact on destiny. Patroclus' death was a way to accelerate the fall of Troy. Only when Patroclus dies does Hector die, and only in Hector's death does Troy come close to falling.
Patroclus’ apostrophes
The characterization of Patroclus as someone who was mourned by everyone and who has "gentle" as a characteristic epithet after his death are not the only resources used to accentuate the tragedy of his death. Homer's repeated use of apostrophes with Patroclus is also significant, as this is intended to evoke sympathy in the reader/listener.
Apostrophe in Greek literally means ‘turning away’ (i.e. from the person who has continuously been addressed up till the moment of the apostrophe); the most common Latin translation is aversio. The term is mostly used, in ancient as in modern literary criticism, to indicate ‘the address to someone not present in the default dialogic scheme’, that is to say a (fictional or intradiegetical) character, a third person, a god, an inanimate object or a personified abstraction. It may occur in narrative poetry, lyric poetry and all kinds of prose and oratory. The effect of apostrophe, as analyzed in modern theory, is that the dialogue (which in forensic oratory takes place between the speaker and the judges, in poetry between the narrator and the narratees) is ostensibly sidetracked. However, in reality the narrator continues to address the narratees, and so directs their emotions by emphatically voicing his own feelings.
Credits for the definition to this article written by Jacqueline J . H . Klooster because, honestly, I wouldn't know how to explain it without messing up.
In The Iliad, the two characters in which this resource is most used are Patroclus (8 times, all in Book XVI, moment of his aristeia. Aristeia is basically a type of moment in which the character reaches their peak, in which they prove themselves to be an aristo, that is, the best) and Menelaus (7 times, but spread throughout the Books), curiously the characters that I think are most sensitive and sympathetic among the Achaeans. You're supposed to care about Patroclus, so his death will have more impact. You’re supposed to sympathize with Menelaus' situation. In the case of Patroclus, the apostrophes applied to him begin even before he enters battle and gradually increase until the moment of his death, as if they were alerting the reader/listener and leading him to absorb how ironically tragic the development of his aristeia is.
There is more to analyze about this, but it would make this already immense post even longer. I searched to see if anyone had written anything online about this and I found this great article on this topic written by Emily Allen-Hornblower. I recommend checking it out!
More
Patroclus is a character who does a lot for others, even narratively speaking. He does activities for Achilles like cooking, he tries to live up to the expectations of being Achilles' wise guide, he tries to reassure Briseis, he takes care of the animals, he’s open to listening to what the Achaeans have to say, he’s the one who inspires courage in the worst moment and his death is one of the main events that caused the fall of Troy.
Update 05/05/2024: paragraph below has been slightly edited
In fact, there's more to talk about his character that I haven't covered here. For example, I didn't develop Patroclus' association with wisdom, something also linked to his age. Nor did I enter into scholars' interpretation of Patroclus as a kind of Achilles' double. That is, interpretations about how the funeral that Achilles gives for Patroclus is related to the death of Achilles himself or interpretations of how, by wearing Achilles' armor, Patroclus embodies him during his aristeia and that is why his more restrained person is suddenly more arrogant and confident (I mean dude was saying REALLY sharp words during Book XVI lol) and he even wanted to mutilate Saperdon. But it's just that writing these interpretations here would make the post infinite. At least the articles I mention in this post also address this Achilles’ double aspect (although it isn’t necessarily the main topic of the articles), but the wisdom part will be lacking.
And as a bonus, I'll talk about how Patroclus is introduced by Philoctetes. In Sophocles' play "Philoctetes", the Achaeans have to return to the island where they abandoned Philoctetes because Helenus prophesied that Philoctetes and his bow (previously belonging to Heracles) would be needed to win the war. Odysseus takes Neoptolemus along and when Philoctetes asks for updates on the war that has been going on for 10 years, he asks about Patroclus referring to him as the one Achilles loved most.
[...] PHILOCTETES: Now, for the gods' sake, what of Patroclus? On that occasion where was he? Tell me. Your father loved him more than anyone.
NEOPTOLEMUS: He was also dead. I can tell you why in one brief saying — given the choice, war takes no evil men. It always wants to seize the good ones. [...]
Philoctetes, 420. Translation by Ian Johnston.
A curious line, considering that Philoctetes didn't spend much time with Achilles as he was abandoned before they reached Troy. Either Achilles' favoritism towards Patroclus was extremely obvious or Philoctetes is very observant or both. Interestingly, he gives different characteristics to the other characters. Philoctetes remembers how Nestor is a good advisor, how Tersites was inconvenient, he associates Diomedes and Odysseus with something negative, when talking about Ajax the size of Ajax is there, he says that Achilles was noble...but with Patroclus, the most memorable characteristic for Philoctetes is that he was very loved by someone. The characterization of Patroclus as someone whose importance is linked to being loved isn’t modern, contrary to what some people think (note that when I say "loved" I mean in general. It doesn't matter if we are talking about the context of romance, friendship or family).
PATROCLUS AND CLEOPATRA
Patroclus (Patroklos Πάτροκλος) is the combination of “father” (patḗr πατήρ) + “glory” (kleos κλέος), meaning “glory of his father”.[1] A father or mother giving their child that name isn’t strange, however there is one more detail: the feminine of Patroclus is Cleopatra (Kleopatra Κλεοπάτρη), which is the junction of “glory” (kleos κλέος) + “father” (patḗr πατήρ).[2] Another way to write this name is Κλεοπάτρα.[3] Anyway, Cleopatra is the name of Meleager's wife.
[...] την ώρια Κλεοπάτρα,
της σφιχτοστήθως Μάρπησσας την κόρη και του Νίδα. [...]
The Iliad, Raphsody Ι (Book XIX), 556-557. Translation by Alexandros Palles. See here.
This strengthens the parallel between Patroclus and Cleopatra, and between Achilles and Meleager comparing the plot of The Iliad and the story told by Phoenix in Book IX. In both cases:
Heroes came together for a common, divinely motivated cause (Trojan War motivated by several gods and goddesses and Calydonian Boar motivated by Artemis);
The people in general have incredible abilities as a whole, but one stands out (Achilles for several feats and Meleager because he killed the boar)
A deity feels insulted by a king and therefore sends punishment (Apollo for the treatment given to his priest by Agamemnon and Artemis for being forgotten by Oeneus)
The prominent hero interferes to stop the divine punishment from continuing (Achilles by encouraging Calchas to speak the truth and Meleager by killing the boar)
After the solution was given, a conflict began (Agamemnon took Briseis and there was a war for possession of the boar's skin and hide)
The prominent hero retreats from the fight (Achilles after being dishonored by Agamemnon and Meleagrus angered by his mother Althaea)
The hero then spends time with his closest companion (Achilles in his tent with Patroclus and Meleagrus with his wife Cleopatra)
People start to have problems with the hero's refusal to fight (the Trojans advance and so do the Curetes)
People try to make the hero return and fail (Achilles with Odysseus, Phoenix, Ajax and Meleager with Aetolian)
His closest companion then begs the hero to return (Patroclus with Achilles and Cleopatra with Meleager)
As if, as Cleopatra did with Meleager, Patroclus accompanied Achilles in his decision and spent his days caring for him and having fun with him (it is mentioned that Achilles was playing for Patroclus when Odysseus, Phoenix and Ajax arrive. Cleopatra is mentioned that Meleager was lying with his wife), but also like her Patroclus felt worry and despair and equally like Cleopatra Patroclus believed that, although no one had convinced Achilles, he alone could convince him. The difference begins when Meleager hears Cleopatra's plea and returns to battle, although he doesn’t receive any reward because the Aetolians no longer think so highly of him. On the other hand, Achilles doesn't listen to Patroclus.
Patroclus was present during this conversation and even cooked for them, so he certainly heard Phoenix's story. This makes me wonder if this story just served as a parallel or if it was a further construction of Phoenix and Patroclus' characters. Nestor, known to be wise, seemed to believe that Patroclus had a chance of changing Achilles' mind, so I don't see why Phoenix couldn't have thought the same. Perhaps part of the reason Phoenix chose this story wasn’t only to tell Achilles that he might end up regretting his choice, but also to indirectly try to get Patroclus to react like Cleopatra did. Nestor, when trying to get Patroclus to talk to Achilles, reinforces how Peleus trusted Patroclus to guide Achilles. It really seems like the other characters were purposely trying to get Achilles back through Patroclus. The Acheans did get Achilles back through Patroclus, but unfortunately not through his words but through his death.
This is a specific interpretation of the Homeric tradition. It isn’t possible to know whether this play with names and parallels with Patroclus and Cleopatra already existed in oral traditions before Homer.
About Patroclus begging Achilles to return, there is even an post-homeric ancient source in which Achilles yields!
[...] Meanwhile Phoenix and Patroclus were standing around Achilles in the position of suppliants, taking hold of his knees and, without restraint, kissing his hands and face, begging him to give up his wrath and return to his place of honor. Do this, they said, not so much for these representatives but, as is right, for all of the army.
Finally Achilles yielded. He would do what they wanted. The sight of the representatives, the prayers of his closest friends, and the realization that the army was not to blame made him change his mind.
Then for the first time after his wrath, at the suggestion of Ajax, Achilles went to a meeting of the council. Agamemnon greeted him in a royal manner, and the other leaders were happy to welcome him back. On every side there was joy, unbounded joy. And then Agamemnon, taking Achilles by the hand, led him off, along with the other leaders, to dinner.
A little later, during the dinner, when they were enjoying themselves, Agamemnon commanded Patroclus to take Hippodamia to Achilles’ hut, and also the jewelry he had given to her. This was an order Patroclus was glad to obey.
During this winter, Greeks and Trojans mingled in the grove of the Thymbraean Apollo.17 They went freely, whether singly or in groups, without any fear of each other.
Dictys Cretensis, Book II. Translation by R.M Frazer.
Dictys Cretensis was believed to be a story from the Latin tradition, but it was discovered to have a Greek original and to be, in fact, a Greek source translated into Latin. The authorship or time of the Greek original isn’t yet certain, but it’s theorized that it’s a late source compared to the others sources. It’s interesting to mention, however, that the format of this text is a first-hand account by Dictys and at one point in Book I he even uses Odysseus as a source (who isn’t known for being super sincere), so I particularly wouldn't rule out the possibility of this narrative being purposefully biased. And I'm not talking about this part that I mentioned here, but Dictys Cretensis in general.
ANIMALS, FUNERAL AND POST-DEATH
Note: this part is considerably composed of theory (not entirely). So remember that theory is theory, it isn’t certain.
Yes, that's a curious title. In my defense, my intention was to do an “Animals” topic and a “Funeral and Post-Death” topic, but then the two topics got mixed up more than planned and I had to combine the topics. So here we are with this peculiar title.
Dogs
Okay, now seriously…Patroclus had nine dogs. I know it's kind of a silly detail, but that's precisely why this part gets me so much. When you read The Iliad, everything seems to be there for a reason and everyone has this aura, you know? And then we have to…apparently Patroclus spent his free time in Troy collecting dogs to look after? It's so mundane that it's unexpected. And then Achilles goes and sacrifices two of them. And I wondered if it was really so random that these dogs were there.
[...] And the dead lord Patroclus
had fed nine dogs at table-he slit the throats of two,
threw them onto the pyre and then a dozen brave sons
of the proud Trojans he hacked to pieces with his bronze…
The Iliad, XVIII, 198-201. Translation by Robert Fagles.
I thought that if the dogs weren't just any detail, it could be another attempt to direct sympathy towards Patroclus. I couldn't be satisfied with this explanation, because Homer had already used the characterization of Patroclus' personality, the repeated use of apostrophes, and the other characters' reactions to do this, it's not like he needed to use dogs. But then I thought…what if someone already said something about this? This story has been here for years, long before I even existed, so I'm DEFINITELY not the only person who finds these dogs strange.
I did some research and in fact someone already mentioned it. The author compares the funeral rites of Patroclus, Hector and Achilles and then defines a possible Homeric formula for funerals based on this, then explains why among the three that of Patroclus isn’t a typical Homeric ritual but an exception. She believes that the sacrifices made by Achilles at Patroclus' funeral (four horses, two dogs, twelve Trojans) aren’t meant to be seen as common in a Homeric context as some scholars say and that also says more than just Achilles being very angry or something like this. The text is very long, going as far as analyzing Hittite rituals and words in the original Greek, so there is no way to summarize the argument. I'm just going to post the concluding opinion section and, if you want to see the rest, go read it.
As for the dog sacrifice, Krick suggests an ingenious interpretation “that the dog is the ritual representative of the mythic dog Saramā, who will then function as a leader for the horse to the land of the dead.” Krick’s reading may help to illuminate the role of the table dogs at Patroclus’ funeral. The dog sacrifice in tandem with the horse sacrifice that occurs during the funeral of Patroclus bring into sharper relief comparisons with the aśvamedha ritual. Yet the dogs in the funeral are sacrificed in a manner more similar to that of the Hittite severing rituals, though it is not explicitly clear that the puppies in the Hittite ritual are decapitated like Patroclus’ table dogs. In both the Hittite and Sanskrit rituals dogs are used as a method of purification. While it is possible that purification may have been an underlying motivation for the dogs sacrificed at Patroclus’ funeral, the potential recipient of the purification is quite ambiguous. I argue then that it is more probable that the table dogs sacrificed during the funeral of Patroclus are symbolic representatives of the dog of the underworld, meant to lead their master, Patroclus, to the land of the dead. The inclusion of dog sacrifice in addition to horse sacrifice in Patroclus’ funeral strengthen the resemblance to the aśvamedha. Anthony reasons that “Pre-Greek and Pre-Indo-Iranian almost certainly were neighboring Indo-European dialects, spoken near enough to each other that words related to warfare and ritual… were shared.” Perhaps the funerary sacrifice of dogs and horses was another early shared innovation.
Pag 33-34 of this article.
Horses
Dogs aren’t the only animals related to Patroclus, but horses too. Ptolomy even goes so far as to attribute this characteristic of Patroclus to him having been loved by Poseidon and having learned to ride directly from him, the god who created horses. Although this version is something that I only found in one source, Patroclus' connection with horses was already present in The Iliad. To begin with, Patroclus is sometimes referred to as “master horseman”:
[...] She was up in flames at once. engulfed in quenchless fire,
in a flash the blaze went swirling round the stem
and Achilles slapped his thighs and urged Patroclus,
"To arms-Patroclus, prince and master horseman!
I can see the blaze go roaring up the ships.
They must not destroy them. No escape-route then.
Quick, strap on my gear-I'll rouse the troops,"
The Iliad, XVI, 149-155.
[...] 'Now don't come back to the hollow ships. you hear?—
Patroclus, master horseman—
not till you've slashed the shirt around his chest
and soaked it red in the blood of man-killing Hector!'
So he must have commanded — you maniac, you obeyed."
The Iliad, XVI, 980-983.
During his aristeia, as Patroclus is using Achilles' resources (with the exception of the spear, as only Achilles can lift it), he also uses the immortal horses Xanthus (Roan Beauty) and Balius (Dapple).
Now the war-team.
Patroclus ordered Automedon to yoke them quickly—
a man he honored next to Achilles breaker of men,
always firmest in battle, nerved to wait the call.
So at his command Autornedon yoked the horses,
the rapid stallions Roan Beauty and Dapple,
the team that raced the gales, magnificent team
the storm-wind filly Lightfoot foaled for the West Wind, 180
grazing the lush green grass along the Ocean's tides.
And into the traces he ran the purebred Bold Dancer—
Achilles seized him once when he stormed Eetion's city,
a mortal war-horse pacing immortal horses now
The Iliad, XVI, 174-184.
These horses aren’t ordinary horses, but immortal horses — the immortal sons of a harpy and the god Zephyrus. They were a divine gift to Peleus, who subsequently gave them to Achilles, who then loaned them to Patroclus. This makes them great horses, but it's also not like it's easy to command animals with such speed, and yet Patroclus does it. Automedon even declares Patroclus was the only one capable of fully controlling Xanthus and Balius.
Diores' son Automedon shouted back, "Alcimedon!
What other Achaean driver could match your skill
at curbing this deathless team or spurring on their fury?
Only Patroclus. skilled as the gods themselves
while the man was still alive—
now death and fate have got him in their grip.
On with it! Take up the whip and shining reins.
I'll dismount the car and fight on foot."
The Iliad, XVII, 544-551.
Another characteristic that differentiates them from common animals is their consciousness, shown in how they cry at Patroclus' death and miss him. Zeus has to comfort them so they can run again.
So they would say, fueling. comrades' courage.
And so they fought and the iron din went rising up
to the bronze sky through the barren breathless air.
But standing clear of the fray Achilles' horses wept
from the time they first had sensed their driver's death,
brought down in the dust by man-killing Hector.
Diores' rugged son Automedon did his best.
lashed them over and over with stinging whip—
coaxing them gently now, now shouting oath on oath.
But both balked at returning now to the ships
moored at the Hellespont's far-reaching shore
or galloping back to fight beside the Argives.
Staunch as a pillar planted tall above a barrow,
standing sentry over some lord or lady's grave-site,
so they stood, holding the blazoned chariot stock-still,
their heads trailing along the ground, warm tears flowing
down from their eyes to wet the earth... the horses mourned,
longing now for their driver, their luxurious manes soiled,
streaming down from the yoke-pads, down along the yoke.
The Iliad, XVII, 490-508.
At Patroclus' funeral, Achilles describes how Patroclus used to take good care of Xanthus and Balius and warns that the horses will not be used in the Funeral Games as they’re so depressed that they refuse to move.
“[...] You know how my team outstrips all others' speed.
Immortal horses they are, Poseidon gave them himself
to my father Peleus, Peleus passed them on to me.
But I and our fast stallions will not race today,
so strong his fame, the charioteer they've lost,
so kind — always washing them down with fresh water,
sleeking their long manes with smooth olive oil.
No wonder they stand here, mourning...
look, trailing those very manes along the ground.
They both refuse to move, saddled down with grief.
But all the rest of you, come, all Achaeans in camp
who trust to your teams and bolted chariots—
take your places now!"
The Iliad, XXIII, 317- 329.
Just as two of Patroclus' nine dogs were sacrificed, Achilles also sacrificed four horses. Returning to the thesis I mentioned previously about sacrificed dogs, Aubrey A. Cumt (the author) also considers the sacrifice of horses unusual for a Homeric funeral. She also doesn't think it's just a narrative device to indicate Achilles' violence or anything like that. However, she says that there are a Hittite source that demonstrate the existence of horse sacrifices in Hittite societies (interestingly, Troy nowadays is theorized to have some Hittite heritage). She also argues that in The Iliad the Trojans are strongly associated with horses and that this animal was a type of wealth, even more so depending on the breed. Although The Iliad is unclear which horses Achilles sacrificed, Aubrey theorizes that they were likely conquered Trojan horses. Then she concludes:
In this way, the horse sacrifice that occurs at the funeral of Patroclus can be understood in a new light. Rather than representing solely an irregular practice, emblematic of Achilles’ violence, the sacrifice can be interpreted as an intentional ritual action, both metonymically representative of the destruction of Troy, but also as possibly triggering far earlier Indo-European cultural and linguistic associations with power and kingship for Achilles, the principal hero of the Iliad.
Pag 26 of this article.
Human sacrifice
And now we stop the animal part of the topic and just focus on death. I’ill proceed by summarizing Aubrey's thesis, but this time her theory regarding the twelve sacrificed Trojans. Human sacrifices existed in Ancient Greece, but they weren’t common, despiste how abundant they were in Greek mythology. And yet, even when human sacrifices occur in Greek mythology, there is a narrative reason. It’s generally associated with divine/prophetic inspiration (Andromeda, Iphigenia, Hesione, Megareus...) and even considering Polyxena (her sacrifice isn’t divinely motivated), it’s easy to know why specifically Polyxena. In the case of the Trojans whom Achilles adds to Patroclus' pyre, the sacrifice not only doesn’t follow the Homeric formula for funerals but is also unusual as a whole.
Just as people have theorized about the dogs and horses, there is the theory that this could simply be a narrative device to show how disturbed Achilles was beyond usual at the time. He had already taken longer than usual to bury Patroclus and broke social rules by doing what he did with Hector's corpse (in fact, in this part of the funeral he even wants to feed Hector to the dogs, as Hector wanted to do with Patroclus. But this doesn’t happen because Hector's body is divinely protected). So the theory that it was another clue as to how on edge Achilles was exists.
For Aubrey, the verbs used in the Greek text added to the different way in which Achilles makes these sacrifices compared to the others (he slaughters Trojans with bronze) gives connotations that are more militaristic than ritualistic (typical of a sacrifice scene). She also argues that they were most likely young Trojan soldiers, considering the interpretation of the Greek text. Aubrey emphasizes the violence of this attitude as well, demonstrated even in the text when it’s says “and he contrived evil works in his mind (κακὰ δὲ φρεσὶ μήδετο ἔργα)". She then concludes that this particular sacrifice is intended to reinforce power.
Given the inclusion of horse sacrifice in Patroclus’ funeral, the human sacrifice of the Trojan youths may then be interpreted as an extension and elevation of the associations to kingship and power. Certainly, in light of Puhvel’s Victimal Hierarchy, Patroclus’ funerary sacrifices as a whole can be construed as a gradation of sacrifices, increasing in significance from dogs to horses and finally to humans.
Pag 42 of this article.
Ghost
Another difference in Patroclus's funeral ritual is the way his bones aren’t cremated, but rather reserved with fat. But this is already explained by Homer: the ghost of Patroclus appeared to Achilles and asked him to mix their ashes, thus guaranteeing that they would continue together in death as they were united in life.
And you too,
your fate awaits you too, godlike as you are, Achilles—
to die in battle beneath the proud rich Trojans' walls!
But one thing more. A last request — grant it. please.
Never bury my bones apart from yours, Achilles,
let them lie together...
just as we grew up together in your house,
after Menoetius brought me there from Opois,
and only a boy, but banished for bloody murder
the day I killed Amphidarnas' son. I was a fool—
I never meant to kill him — quarreling over a dice game.
Then the famous horseman Peleus took me into his halls,
he reared me with kindness, appointed me your aide.
So now let a single urn, the gold two-handled urn
your noble mother gave you, hold our bones — together!"
The Iliad, XXVIII, 97-110.
We know that this wish came true.
“[...] But after the flame of Hephaistos had consumed you utterly, then at dawn
we gathered your white bones, Achilleus,
together with unmixed wine and unguents. Your mother gave you a golden
jar with handles. She said that it was a present
from Dionysos, and was the work of renowned Hephaistos.
In this your white bones are laid away, O shining Achilleus, mixed with the
bones of the dead Patroklos, son of Menoitios, and apart from those of
Antilochos, whom you prized above all the rest of your companions after
the death of Patroklos. [...]”
The Odyssey, XXIV, 71-79. Translation by Richmond Lattimore.
The scene of Patroclus' ghost serves as an explanation for them having his ashes mixed together, but it also opened up more debate. However, I don't even dare try to summarize another theory because there is still much more to be written in this post, so instead I’ll present this article by Menelaos Christopoulos if you’re interested.
Postmortem
The death of Achilles filled the army with dismay, and they buried him with Patroclus in the White Isle, mixing the bones of the two together. [...]
Library, E.5.5. Translation by J. G. Frazer.
[...] White Island, where, he used to declare, he saw Achilles, as well as Ajax the son of Oileus and Ajax the son of Telamon. With them, he said, were Patroclus and Antilochus; Helen was wedded to Achilles [...]
Description of Greece, 3.19.13. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.
[...] whereas Achilles, son of Thetis, they honored and sent to his place in the Isles of the Blest, because having learnt from his mother that he would die as surely as he slew Hector, but if he slew him not, would return home and end his days an aged man, he bravely chose to go and rescue his lover Patroclus, avenged him, and sought death not merely in his behalf but in haste to be joined with him whom death had taken. For this the gods so highly admired him that they gave him distinguished honor, since he set so great a value on his lover.
Symposium, 179e-180a. Translation by Harold N. Fowler.
SKILLS AND FEATS
I'll leave battle skills for later, so let's start with the other skills!
Patroclus has knowledge of healing, as Achilles taught him what he learned from Chiron:
"[…] And spread the soothing, healing salves across it,
the powerful drugs they say you learned from Achilles
and Chiron the most humane of Centaurs taught your friend. […]"
The Iliad, XI, 992-994.
He’s an excellent horseman, even capable of controlling Xanthus and Balius:
Diores' son Automedon shouted back, "Alcimedon!
What other Achaean driver could match your skill
at curbing this deathless team or spurring on their fury?
Only Patroclus. skilled as the gods themselves
while the man was still alive—
now death and fate have got him in their grip.
On with it! Take up the whip and shining reins.
I'll dismount the car and fight on foot."
The Iliad, XVII, 544-551.
And he knows how to cook:
He paused. Patroclus obeyed his great friend,
who put down a heavy chopping block in the firelight
and across it laid a sheep's chine, a fat goat's
and the long back cut of a full-grown pig,
marbled with lard. Automedon held the meats
while lordly Achilles carved them into quarters.
cut them well into pieces. pierced them with spits
and Patroclus raked the hearth, a man like a god
making the fire blaze. Once it had burned down
and the flames died away, he scattered the coals
and stretching the spitted meats across the embers,
raised them onto supports and sprinkled clean pure salt.
As soon as the roasts were done and spread on platters,
Patroclus brought the bread, set it out on the board
in ample wicker baskets. Achilles served the meat.
The Iliad, IX, 246-260.
In Book XVI, Patroclus's named deaths are:
(I'm using Robert Fagles' translation as references for the localizations in parentheses)
Pyraechmes (337)
Areilycus (362)
Pronous (474)
Thestor (477)
Erylaus (490)
Amphotereus (495)
Erymas (495)
Epaltes (495)
Tlepolemus (496)
Echius (496)
Pyris (496)
Ipheus (497)
Euippus (497)
Polymelus (497)
Thrasymelus (550)
Saperdon (578-579)
Sthenelaus (684)
Adrestus (812)
Autonous (812)
Echeclus (812)
Perimus (813)
Epistor (813)
Melanippus (813)
Elasus (814)
Mulius (814)
Pylartes (814)
Cebriones (860)
But Patroclus actually killed more people than that in his aristeia, after all we still have these lines:
[...] and Patroclus charged the enemy, fired for the kill.
Three times he charged with the headlong speed of Ares,
screaming his savage cry, three times he killed nine men.
The Iliad, XVI, 911-913.
He attacked three times and each time killed nine men, resulting in twenty-seven unnamed deaths. This means that in Book XVI, Patroclus killed a total of 54 men in a single battle. This is an impressive feat indeed, but I also have to be fair and not omit that Patroclus had Zeus’s divine aid (Diomedes, Achilles, Odysseus, Paris and other characters also had divine aid so nothing rare or that takes away the merit completely, but important to mention). Euphorbus and Hector also killed Patroclus with divine aid (Apollo, hi!)
In a fragment attributed to Hesiod, we have a part related to Saperdon. Although it doesn't finish what is being said, it’s obviously about Patroclus killing Saperdon:
Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 1 (3rd cent. A.D.):
“[...] Very greatly did he excel in war together with man-slaying Hector and brake down the wall, bringing woes upon the Danaans. But so soon as Patroclus had inspired the Argives with hard courage..."
Catalogues of Women, frag 19A. Translation by Evelyn-White, H G.
Pindar, in one of his odes, describes that Achilles and Patroclus were the bravest in the conflict against Telephus, son of Heracles:
[...] But among the settlers he (Locrus) chiefly honored the son of Actor and Aegina, Menoetius, whose son went with the Atreidae to the plain of Teuthras, and stood alone beside Achilles, when Telephus turned to flight the mighty Danaans, and attacked their ships beside the sea, to reveal to a man of understanding. From that time forward, the son of Thetis exhorted him in deadly war never to post himself far from his own man-subduing spear.
Olympian Ode 9. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.
There are his actions in Dictys Cretensis too. As I already showed in the Cleopatra part, there is no Achilles absenting himself from war and, therefore, there is no Patroclus taking his place. But honestly, if you're really interested in this version, I recommend reading it. It's short, so I don't think it's really worth dissecting that much.
As for Hyginus, he seems to be just repeating Homer. The descriptions of Patroclus' attitudes follow The Iliad and he even says Patroclus killed 54 people, the same number of men he kills in Book XVI.
Pausanias attributes Las's death to Patroclus, disputing the narrative that it was Achilles:
At a spot called Arainus is the tomb of Las with a statue upon it. The natives say that Las was their founder and was killed by Achilles, and that Achilles put in to their country to ask the hand of Helen of Tyndareus. In point of fact it was Patroclus who killed Las, for it was he who was Helen's suitor. We need not regard it as a proof that Achilles did not ask for Helen because he is not mentioned in the Catalogue of Women as one of her suitors.
Description of Greece, 3.24.10. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.
SEXUAL AND/OR ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
Achilles
No reverence hadst thou for the unsullied holiness of thy limbs, oh thou most ungrateful for my many kisses!
Aeschylus, frag 64. Translation by Herbert Weir Smyth.
And the Greek text:
σέβας δέ μηρῶν ἀγνόν ουκ ἐπηδέσω, ὢ δυσχάριστε τῷν πυκνῶν φιλημάτων
μηρῶν τε τῶν σῶν εὐσέβησ᾽ ὁμιλίαν κλαίων
Apparently, for Aeschylus they had a same-gender relationship.
Plato's well-known excerpt about the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles is a kind of response to Aeschylus' interpretation, as Plato disagreed on who was "eromenos" and who was "erates" (Symposium, 179-180). Plutarch also mentions this Aeschylus' fragment in Amatorius in a non-platonic context:
Add to this of Solon that other of Aeschylus:
"Ungrateful, for the kisses of my lips,
Not to revere the glory of my lips."
Amatorius, 5. Translation by "several hands". See in Greek here.
This excerpt from Aeschylus being interpreted as sexual and/or romantic also seems to have remained in the Roman Era, since the text "Amores", attributed to Lucian of Samosata (despite the era, he isn't a Roman, but a Syrian), refers the Aeschylus excerpt in a sexual context in 54.
[...] Do not be surprised: Patroclus in fact, was not loved by Achilles just because he was seated before him, waiting for Achilles to finish his song…but it was lust that mediated their friendship. For Achilles, moaning upon the death of Patroklos, allows his unrestrained passion to burst out with the power of truth when he says: "The holy commerce of your thighs my tears do mourn". I also believe that those whom the Greeks call ‘comastes' are none other than professional lovers. Some might call this a shameful thing to say, but at least it is the truth, by the Aphrodite of Cnidus!
Amores, 54. Translation by Andrew Kallimachos. In Greek here. Note: This excerpt was used only to show the use of Aeschylus. The context of the text as a whole is best seen by reading.
Athenaeus of Naucratis also appears to reference this play by Aeschylus in a romantic sense.
And, in fact, there was such emulation about composing poems of this sort, and so far was any one from thinking lightly of the amatory poets, that Aeschylus, who was a very great poet, and Sophocles, too, introduced the subject of the loves of men on the stage in their tragedies: the one describing the love of Achilles for Patroclus [...]
The Deipnosophists, 13.75. Translation by Henry G. Bohn.
There is an interpretation that Pindar could think of them as being in a romantic relationship because he compares Hagesidamus and Ilas with Patroclus and Achilles and later compares Hagesidamus with Ganymede. Personally, I find this too interpretative to be anything other than ambiguous, but I'm mentioning it here anyway.
[...] let Hagesidamus, victorious as a boxer at Olympia, offer thanks to Ilas, just as Patroclus did to Achilles. With the help of a god, one man can sharpen another who is born for excellence, and encourage him to tremendous achievement [...] And I praised the lovely son of Archestratus [Hagesidamus], whom I saw at that time beside the Olympic altar, winning victory with the valor of his hands—beautiful in form, and blended with that youthful bloom which once kept Ganymede from shameless death, with the help of Cyprian Aphrodite.
Olympian Ode 10, 10.1 and 10.75. Translation by Diane Arnson Svarlien.
There are other texts in which Patroclus x Achilles are interpreted as romantic and/or sexual, regardless of whether the author is framing this as positive or negative. However, I'm trying to focus on plays/poems/libraries/odes/etc and I only cited Lucian, Plutarch, Athenaeus and Plato because they were quoting Aeschylus first.
This relationship isn't considered a fixed tradition — for example, Homer doesn't explicitly a romantic/sexual relationship between them. But yeah, it exists. There is the argument that Aeschylus did it differently from Homer, but the way Aeschylus portrayed Agamemnon's family is also different from the Homeric tradition (Clytemnestra's role is different and the children are not the same) and people take The Oresteia as something valid, so I particularly don't see why the Achilles trilogy wouldn't be. Even ancient Greeks seemed to at least take it into account, considering other authors' mentions of Aeschylus.
Iphis
[...] And over across from him Patroclus slept
with the sashed and lovely Iphis by his side,
whom Prince Achilles gave him the day he took
the heights of Scyros, Enyeus' rocky stronghold.
The Iliad, IX, 813-816. Translation by Robert Fagles.
Iphis was a slave brought by Achilles from Skyros to Patroclus. She doesn't have much narrative importance in The Iliad, since she's only mentioned in this excerpt, but her character is remembered in other sources. For example, in Description of Greece 10.25. In the Roman Era, she was also still remembered, notable in how the sophist Philostratus mentions her in Heroica 716.
Poseidon
Once again reviewing New History (Ptolemy Hephaestion), Photius mentions that Patroclus was Poseidon's lover and learned to ride a horse with him.
[...] Homer calls Patroclus the first horseman because he learned from Poseidon, who loved him, the art of riding horses.
Photius' Bibliotheca, 190.6. Translation by Roger Pearse.
This isn't a constant/fixed tradition. But yeah, it exists. I actually like this idea because it strengthens Patroclus' connection with animals (in this case, horse), but at the same time I couldn't find any source other than Photius' review. I wonder if it existed beyond Ptolomy and if anyone even took it into account.
PHYSICAL APPEARENCE
Homer doesn't describe Patroclus' physical appearance, but there is a bit about it from other sources.
Achilles tending Patroclus in a kylix, by Sosias, 500 BC. See here.
In it, Patroclus's distinguishing characteristics are short curly hair, a beard and a non-straight nose (compare him with Achilles's).
In the frescoes of Pompeii, Patroclus is usually portrayed as a tanned young man with short brown hair, dark eyes and no beard.
Fresco in Pompeii, Briseis being taken by order of Agamemnon. See here and here.
Fresco in Pompeii, respectively Briseis, Achilles and Patroclus. See here and here.
There is a Roman (copy of an original Greek, though) statue of a bearded man carrying the body of a young man from 200–150 BC, which has been thought to be Menelaus and Patroclus. However, the Wikipedia article says that the topic is up for debate, as there is a possibility it could be Ajax and Achilles or even Odysseus and Achilles, so I won't consider it sure. Here is the article, anyway. But the young man has short curly hair and no beard.
According to Pausanias, Polygnotus painted Patroclus without a beard in the Lesche at Delphi.
[...] and beyond Achilles is Patroclus standing. With the exception of Agamemnon these figures have no beard.
Description of Greece, 10.30.3. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.
For some reason, Hyginus made a list of the most beautiful (?) and put Patroclus there. Good for Patroclus, I guess
THOSE WHO WERE MOST HANDSOME: Iasion, son of Ilithius, whom Ceres is said to have loved [credible, since vouched for by old histories]. Cinyras, son of Paphos, king of the Assyrians. Anchises, son of Assaracus, whom Venus loved. Alexander Paris, son of Priam and Hecuba, whom Helen followed. Nireus, son of Charops. Cephalus, son of Pandion, whom Aurora loved. Tithonus, husband of Aurora. Parthenopaeus, son of Meleager and Atalanta. Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis. Patroclus, son of Menoetius. Idomeneus, who loved Helen. Theseus, son of Aegeus and Aethra, whom Ariadne loved.
Fabulae, 270. Translation by Mary Grant.
In Dares, The Prygian, there is a description of Patroclus. However, this text is still quite uncertain. It isn't certain if it has always been a Latin tradition or if it has a Greek original, in addition to other aspects that are still questioned. But I'm going to put it here just to clear my conscience.
Patroclus was handsome and powerfully built. His yes were gray. He was modest, dependable, wise, a man richly endowed.
Dares, The Prygian, 31. Translation by R. M. Frazer.
NON-MYTHOLOGICAL ASPECTS (INTERPRETATIONS, MONUMENTS, ETC)
Apparently, Patroclus was honored and had monuments, since in Geography Strabo says:
The length of this coast, I mean on a straight voyage from Rhoeteium to Sigeium, and the monument of Achilles, is sixty stadia; and the whole of it lies below Ilium, not only the present Ilium, from which, at the Harbor of the Achaeans, it is about twelve stadia distant, but also the earlier Ilium, which lies thirty stadia farther inland in the direction of Mt. Ida. Now there are a temple and a monument of Achilles near Sigeium, as also monuments of Patroclus and Antilochus; and the Ilians offer sacrifices to all four heroes, both to these and to Aias. But they do not honor Heracles, giving as their reason his sacking of the city. But one might say that, although Heracles did sack it, yet he sacked it in such a way as still to leave it a city, even though damaged, for those who were later to sack it utterly; and for this reason the poet states it thus:“He sacked the city of Ilios and widowed her streets;
Geography, 13.1. Translation by H. L. Jones.
According to Pausanias, one of the votive offerings at Delphi was an image of Achilles and Patroclus, sent by the Thessalians of Pharsalia.
The Thessalians too of Pharsalus dedicated an Achilles on horseback, with Patroclus running beside his horse [...]
Description of Greece, 10.13.5. Translation by W.H.S. Jones.
I only found these two mentions of Patroclus in a more religious context and there is always Achilles at the crime scene. This makes me think that if there were other religious practices related to Patroclus, they were probably the kind that honored a conjuct rather than a single person. It wouldn't be strange, since there were other cases like these, for example the Dioscuri, or Helen and Menelaus in Sparta (first case because they're brothers whose brotherhood is relevant in the myth, the second because they are a couple. In other words, there is a platonic and a romantic example! So I think even platonic Patroclus and Achilles wouldn't be that strange to appear as a pair of friends in a religious context). In any case, it isn't possible to be sure.
Update (25/04/2024): flaviafulvia in the comments added Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea, supposedly written in Roman Greek times by the Greek historian Arrian of Nicomedia (86 AD-160 AD) to the Roman emperor Hadrian. In this text there is a mention of a dual cult of Achilles and Patroclus on the Island of Achilles (also called by other names such as Leuke and White Island). Pindar mentions this Island em Nemean Ode 3: "and Achilles holds the shining island in the Euxine sea."
Regarding interpretations of Achilles and Patroclus' relationship:
Note: I'm using interpretations that don't come from poems, plays, etc. So you're not, for example, seeing Aeschylus and others here. They're interpretations of rhetoricians, philosophers, etc.
Aeschines in Against Timarchus considered it romantic and/or sexual, although it's important to mention that this text is a process. Timarcus had accused Aeschines of a crime, and Aeschines retaliated by prosecuting him. In this process, he used the Athenian laws that prohibited a man from having paid homosexual sexual relations against Timarcus. Achilles and Patroclus are only part of the argument here. Furthermore, the lines of The Iliad that Aeschines presented were apparently corrupt. See 1.142.
In Xenophon's Symposium, he wrote Socrates explicitly stating Patroclus and Achilles' relationship was a platonic bond. Whether that was Socrates' opinion or Xenophon's is another story. See 8.31.
Plato in his Symposium considered their relationship as romantic, although under a Classical Athenian perception — i.e., with restrictive concepts of erastes and eromenos. See 179e-180a.
The author of Amores (it isn't certain if it was Lucian. If it was Lucian, this text is non-Greek, as Lucian was Syrian) considered them a romantic and/or sexual relationship. See 54.
Plutarch in Amatorius portrays them as in a romantic relationship, although it's in the context of refuting the famous theory that a male relationship is better than a relationship between a man and a woman. See 5.
Martial portrayed them in a sexual relationship and didn't imply anything romantic. This text is non-Greek, as Martial was probably Roman. I didn't find this excerpt in English except on the Internet Archive because on other sites they removed it (literally. It said they had removed it, probably due to content considered obscene. Suffice to say that Martial's epigrams are sources of Latin obscenities.), but Perseus still has it in Latin here. See Robert Fletcher translation, Book 11 epig 44 (pag 111).
Athenaeus of Naucratis used Patroclus and Achilles as an example of romantic love between men The Deipnosophists, more specifically he used Aeschylus' version. See 13.75.
The bucolic poem, written by Theocritus (note: authorship somewhat unsure), Idyll XXIX uses Patroclus and Achilles as a comparison of romantic love. See Idyll XXIX, 25.
Conclusion: there isn’t much information about the Archaic Greece, but in the Classical Greece the debate about the nature of their relationship gained more prominence. Such debate continued in subsequent times. In mythological works, the only source that has confirmed this relationship is Aeschylus.
REFERENCES
Here I'll be organizing the references used. I include authors, dates, authors' ethnicities and types of source because I think it makes the context easier to visualize — a person from the Classical period didn't think like someone from the Archaic and a philosopher didn't write with the same intention as an encyclopedia. And of course, just because I specified excerpts doesn't mean you can understand them all by just reading them without context!
Mentions/scenes
The Iliad, Homer - the entire poem since it's the greatest source we have on Patroclus
The Odyssey, Homer - Book III, 102-117; Book XI, 465-470; Book XXIV, 15-18 and 71-79
Fragments attributed to Hesiod - Catalogue of Women frag 19A and frag 61
Cypria, attributed to Stasinus - frag 1
Fragments attributed to Aeschylus - Myrmidones frags (59-66) | Nereids frags (72-75) (because they accompany Achilles' mourning over the death of Patroclus)
Olympian Odes, Pindar - ode 9 | ode 10, 10.1 (see the scholiasts' comments on these same odes)
Philoctetes, Sophocles - 403
Heroica/On Heroes, Philostratus - 675
Idyll XXIX, Theocritus - 25
Symposium, Plato - 179e-180a and 208d
Symposium, Xenophon - 8.31
Geography, Strabo - 9.4.2 | 9.5.9 | 13.1.7 | 13.1.32
Fabulae, attributed to Hyginus - 81 | 97 | 106 | 112 | 114 | 257 | 270 | 273
Library/Bibliotheca, attributed to Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus - 3.10.8 | 3.13.8 (there is a mention of a Patroclus I don't include because it's Patroclus son of Heracles, not the Patroclus son of Menoetius)
Deipnosophistae, Athenaeus of Naucratis - 1.31 | 13.75 (here there is also a Patroclus who is not who I'm talking about, this other is Ptolemy's general. Also, other parts mention Patroclus, but they're about other characters like Nestor and Menelaus, so I didn't include them. )
Epigrams, Martial - 11.43
Aristides, Plutarch - 20
Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea, Arrian of Nicomedia - 16-18 sections on Wikipedia
Description of Greece, Pausanias - 3.19.13 | 3.24.10 | 4.28.7 | 5.8.3 | 5.19.8 | 10.4.2 | 10.13.5 | 10.26.6 (there is another Patroclus mentioned by Pausanias, but don't confuse him with the mythological Patroclus. The other one is Egyptian, not Greek!)
Amores, attributed to Lucian of Samosata or Pseudo-Lucian - 54
Bibliotheca, Photius - 190.9 | 190.6
Dictys Cretensis, ? - If you're really interested, just read the whole thing
Source dates
For reference:
8th century BC = between 800 BC-701 BC
7th century BC = between 700 BC-601 BC
3rd century BC = between 300 BC-201 BC
5th century BC = between 500 BC-401 BC
1st century BC = between 90 BC-0 BC
1st century AD = between 0 AD-90 AD
2nt century AD = between 101 AD-200 AD
9th century AD = between 801 AD-900
The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer - 8th century BC, the year is much debated (Greek)
Theogony, Hesiod - 8th century BC, maybe 730–700 BC (Greek)
Fragments attributed to Hesiod - multiple dates because there are multiple sources
Cypria, attributed to Stasinus - 7th century BC (Greek)
Fragments attributed to Aeschylus - multiple dates because there are multiple sources
Olympian Odes, Pindar - 5th century BC (Greek)
Philoctetes, Sophocles - 409 BC (Greek)
Heroica/On Heroes, Philostratus - I haven't found the date of the text itself, but Philostrathus is theorized to be from 170 AD – 240 AD (Greek)
Idyll XXIX, Theocritus - 3rd century BC (Greek)
Symposium, Plato - 385 BC – 370 BC (Greek)
Symposium, Xenophon - 360 BC (Greek)
Geography, Strabo - late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD, the year is much debated (Greek)
Fabulae, attributed to Hyginus - I haven't found the date of the text itself, but Martial is theorized to be from 64 BC – 17 AD (Roman)
Library/Bibliotheca, attributed to Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus - 1st or 2nd century AD (Greek)
Deipnosophistae, Athenaeus of Naucratis - early 3rd century AD (Greek)
Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodius - 3rd century BC, maybe 283 BC–246 BC or 246 BC–221 BC (Greek)
Epigrams, Martial - I haven't found the date of the text itself, but Martial is theorized to be from 38/41 AD – 102/104 AD (probably Roman)
Aristides, Plutarch - I haven't found the date of the text itself, but Plutarch is theorized to be from 46 AD – 119 AD (Greek)
Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea, Arrian of Nicomedia - 2nd century AD (Greek)
Description of Greece, Pausanias - 2nd century AD (Greek)
Amores, attributed to Lucian of Samosata or Pseudo-Lucian - uncertain, but certainly AD (if it's by Lucian, Syrian)
Bibliotheca, Photius - 9th century AD (Greek)
Dictys Cretensis, ? - ? AD (Greek)
Type of Source
The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer - epic poem
Theogony, Hesiod - poem
Fragments attributed to Hesiod - scholiasts comments
Cypria, attributed to Stasinus - epic poem (lost)
Fragments attributed to Aeschylus - scholiasts comments
Olympian Odes, Pindar - collection of odes
Philoctetes, Sophocles - play
Heroica/On Heroes, Philostratus - dialogue
Idyll XXIX, Theocritus - bucolic poem
Symposium, Plato - dialogue
Symposium, Xenophon - dialogue
Geography, Strabo - geographical encyclopedia
Fabulae, attributed to Hyginus - greek myths encyclopedia (adapted for a Roman public)
Library/Bibliotheca, attributed to Apollodorus or Pseudo-Apollodorus - mythological encyclopedia
Deipnosophistae, Athenaeus of Naucratis - dialogue
Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodius - epic poem
Epigrams, Martial - collection of epigrams
Aristides, Plutarch - biography
Arrian's Voyage Round the Euxine Sea, Arrian of Nicomedia - travel guidebook
Description of Greece, Pausanias - travel literature
Amores, attributed to Lucian of Samosata or Pseudo-Lucian - dialogue
Bibliotheca, Photius - text reviews
Dictys Cretensis, ? - first-hand account
Others
Apostrophe in Homer, Apollonius and Callimachus by Jacqueline J . H . Klooster, available in Academia.edu site (I used the apostrophe concept from here)
Revisiting the Apostrophes to Patroclus in Iliad 16 by Emily Allen-Hornblower, available in The Center of Hellenic Studies of Harvard site (I recommend reading it if you are interested in the use of apostrophe in Patroclus' scenes)
Irregularities in the Funeral of Patroclus by Aubrey A. Cum, available in University of Georgia site.
Patroclus and Elpenor. Dead and Unburied, in The Upper and the Under World in Homeric and Archaic Epic by Menelaos Christopoulos, available in Academia.edu site.
#Ask#Anon#13k about Patroclus lol#Tagamemnon#Patroclus#Achilles#Menoetius#Because Achilles and Menoetius were considerably spoken of as well#Greek Mythology#The Iliad#Patrochilles#Because of the part about versions of their relationships#This took a while to write (almost a week)#If anyone has anything to add feel free to do so#The interpretative parts are subjective (i.e. disagree if you want)#There was more of Patroclus in the scholia of Homer and Pindar but I don't know Greek#I'm definitely not a classicist please remember this#For the love of god please consider the context of the sources (the era for example)#I love Patroclus did you notice?#I tried to find more without Achilles but Patroclus in fact has almost all of his sources linked to Achilles#Just in case of “why is it always Achilles and Patroclus and never just Patroclus?”#I just saw this bunch of sources and apparently it's been like this forever and there is no escape it's not my fault!#I love him but the guy is reaaaaaally a secondary bro and it's time to accept that#Patroclus doesn't have to be one of the main characters to be a personal fav guys#Also he's a badass but please don't make that his only trait#Everyone there is a badass just being a badass isn't enough#Much is said about dogs but Patroclus and HORSES#And I'm getting personal in these tags time to stop#Birdiethings
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i dont even use a screenreader and i still read the image descriptions. thank you for putting in the work to write them in your posts ♥️
thank you so much!! <33 i try to make my blog accessible as possible and am happy everytime im able to help :3
#i got some disabilities that can make them extremely difficult to do so this is super sweet thank you !#ill always do my best to make my posts inclusive and help others :3#if i ever id any of ur post please always feel free to add it to your original post. if you need an id please never be scared to ask !! :33#little spoiler alert but i got some full action comics ive done and will be posting hopefully soon too :)#i kinda wanna make like... a google drive/whatever cloud or an entire site with transcripts in them#but itll be me just uploading pages i already pirated and the transcript per comic/alongside vfjhd#but... idk ! maybe one day/if thats anything anyone wants i can try. also got that superman radio show still eventually#ANYWAYS !! again! thank you :33#company in the crypt
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VENOR
NSFW! mdni +18, cw: stalking, stalker!König (idk lol lmk id i have to add anything)
word count: 1.3k
summary: His obsession for you was overwhelming. So yours too.
pt.2 posted! here
cr: dwisesz on twt (sir is that seat taken?)
There was something about the way you talk, move, look, glance at him; and he was enhanced by you. That was why he wanted to watch you all the time. You were his only entertainment, his deep desire and obsession. His obsession was too strong and he was powerless against it. He just couldn’t resist the craving he had for you. So he was ignoring all your personal boundaries just to keep observing you.
He watched you in awe as you walked around your home where you're the most relaxed and vulnerable. The black, silky nightgown you were wearing was making his head spin. The way the dress moved along with your body as you got ready for your night routine was impressive. First, you'd make a cozy spot for yourself. Then, you'd put on some music to play in the background while you read and drink some tea.
He watched you carry the absurdly large pillows to your nest. Your petite form was sinking into the couch that was filled with pillows and blankets. He crossed his arms and leaned back against his chair. He was glad that he had enough time to set multiple cameras in your house when you were at work. The perfect angle to see you was the camera on your bookshelf. Your body was directly towards it and the nightgown slid up to your thighs. You didn’t seem to have a problem with it. But he had a problem, a huge problem. He had a fetish for the delicate skin of your thighs. He wanted to mark them so bad. The bite marks he’d leave on your thighs would make them look more gorgeous. But it’d make him look like a madman, right?
He continued to observe you but it was hard to pry his eyes off your thighs. The next stop was your breasts. He felt his cock throb at the sight. Your nipples were noticeable thanks to the thin fabric and you, for not wearing any bra at home. He swallowed thickly and his arms tensed against his chest. How he wanted to bury his head between your soft breasts… Using your chest as a pillow after a horrible nightmare would heal him. You were his only remedy.
Then his gaze shifted to your neck, which he wanted to kiss and suck hickeys on. A soft sigh drew his focus on your neck and his shoulders stretched. What happened? Were you not feeling good? Were you cold? Concern gnawed at his heart as his whole body tensed. But it was nothing he was expecting. Your bottom lip was captured by your pearly teeth and your legs now crossed. Your thighs pressed together and rubbing slowly. He narrowed his eyes trying to process what you’re up to.
“Verdammt.” he hissed as he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with frustration. His mask was hiding his flushed face but nothing could hide the massive bulge on his pants. “Bitte Liebling, tu es nicht.” (Please darling, don’t do it.) he mumbled and looked back at the big screen in front of him. How could you be so cruel? Teasing him like that… Your body squirming as you stubbornly continued to read that book. Was that the reason you were pulling down your panties and spread opening your legs? “So hübsch.” (So pretty.) he mumbled at the sight of your wet cunt.
You must feeling so comfortable with satisfying yourself in the living room because you had no problem letting out loud moans as your fingers rubbed at your clit. He couldn’t resist his painful arousal anymore. It was okay if he satisfy himself along with you, right? It wouldn’t harm anyone. He unbuckled his belt swiftly and unzipped his pants. His cock spung free and hit against his stomach when he pulled down his boxers. The tip of his cock was red and dripping precum from all the time he was holding back. He groaned and tipped his head back as he fisted his fat cock with his large hand. That man was big. From head to toe, everything about him was big.
Your desperate and needy whimpers were filling his room as he jerked off the perfect view of your pussy. “I bet your small fingers can’t even reach the spots that make you squirm.” he mumbled a he focused on how desperately you fingered your greedy cunt. “I could do that for you, Maus. I’d finger your pretty pussy until you can’t cum.” he mumbled between his whimper and groans. His thumb drawing circles on the sensitive tip of his cock while fantasizing about what he’d do to your pussy. When your moans turned into cries he knew you were close. Your hips twitching and your head pressed to pillows. He was also close and he cum along with you imagining how good it’d feel like cumming inside you.
You stayed there for three more minutes before getting up and taking a cold shower. He cursed himself for not being able to put a damn camera in your bathroom. He waited until you get out, trying not to break his own neck for that great mistake. He finally took a deep breath when you got out of shower but he chocked on his breath when he saw you in only a short towel wrapped around your body. That fucking towel wasn’t even covering the half of your body.
“Mein Gott.” he breathed. The towel dropped when you stood in front of your closet to pick up your pjs. His cock got rock hard instantly. He didn’t even tried to convince himself to stop. It was all your fault for being so hot when you bend over to pick your panties up. His hand stroking his thick cock as he watched you get dressed. You liked to watch yourself from the mirror as you get dressed. It tortured him the most. The way your underwear clinged to your hips making them look harder to resist.
He felt like a pervert when he released another load of cum. His hips bucking up to fuck his fist. The comfort of being home allowed him to whimper and moan as loud as he wanted. He watched as you climbed on the bed and covered your body with blankets. His hand was still his twitching cock, watching you as you got ready for sleep. Now it was his problem that he was still rock hard… He got up and kicked his pants out, removing layers as he walked to bathroom. A cold shower was what he needed to suppress his animalistic urges now.
You smirked when the notification sound came from your phone. Your back was turned to the camera so he couldn’t see what you were doing. “How cute.” you murmured. The camera that you placed on his bathroom was working perfectly, providing you the most mouth watering view. He was showering, and he was moaning your name as he fucked his palm. Your finger brushed against the screen of your phone. Did he know you were a sucker for him? Did he know the necklace you bought for him came along with a tracker? How would he feel about you stealing the keys of his room? Which he never let you in. The curiosity was eating you alive. So you'd find out what he was hiding tomorrow. You continued to watch him shower until you fell asleep.
a/n: please support me by reblogging, if you liked the content ofc <3 your comments also makes my day :* and i love to reply all of them :>
yes, i finally did it :> imma post it now but i’m not satisfied with it. so i might delete sorry (:
tag:
@entityunkown @elichisstuff @mikisworls
for some content: You two are close friends so you got keys to his house and he do too. You know he’s in love with you -not that he’s too obsessed- but he doesn’t knows. The said room is that he keeps locked is the room he watched your home and was filled with your belongings, photos, videos etc…
taglist?
#konig x you#könig smut#könig fanfiction#könig x reader#könig x y/n#konig cod#konig smut#konig x reader#konig x y/n#könig#konig modern warfare#konig call of duty#konig imagine#konig headcanons#konig mw2#konig#obsessed könig#könig call of duty#könig cod#könig x you#könig mw2#könig modern warfare#könig x fem reader#konig x female reader#silay#i know it’s könig
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18+ mdni
Theodore - Theodore Nott
mine part 2 - SMUT ALL THE SMUT
song partially inspired - daddy issued by the nieghbourhood
warnings - oral (f recieving), hand on neck, theo holding your wrists, dom!theo, a little aftercare, slaps on ass/thigh
You were his baby girl and he wouldn't let you forget it, so frail. He loved the control he had over you.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
Dragging you into his dorm room with a force only Theo could possess. He locked the door behind you while spinning you round to hold you against his hips.
Trailing his hands with prominent viens between your perky breasts and down your stomach he gripped at your body randomly as a little reminder.
You were aching for his touch, honestly thinking you've never been this desperate in your life. He knew this and made it very clear he wasn't going to be quick.
Theo loved teasing, he especially loved when you used his full name. 'Theodore' was what he always wanted to be called while he was fucking your brains out or 'treating you' as he called it.
''Now i think its very imortant that i remind you who the fuck you belong to, isn't that right little girl'' he smirked ferociously.
Theo knew exacatly what turned you on, he knew you better than anyone else. Inside and out (literally).
The love of your life suddenly threw you onto his dorm bed. You gripped at the sheets with anticipation, not knowing what he was going to do next.
But you should've guessed...
Theo rushly pulled you to the edge of the bed, putting your legs over his muscular shoulders. Ripping your panties apart with all the determination in the world. He ploughed his face into your dripping pussy, licking and sucking messily. The one way Theo loved to make you cum was eating you out, your juices covering his tongue. Maybe he'd add some fingering if he was feeling generous (which wasn't very often).
''Theo... please'' you begged him to make you cum.
Stopping, with a harsh slap to your upper thigh. ''Excuse you. What do you call me?'' He wasn't going to keep going until you understood he wasn't playing this time.
''Theodore'' you whimpered.
Putting his face back on your cunt ''Better'' he mastered.
Theo let go of your pussy which was in desprate need of his touch. Turning you over and pulling you onto your knees, face down, he pulled your hands behind your back as he knows you move too much.
With his other hand he undid his belt and slowly pulled it out of the loops on his black jeans. Placing it beside you where you could see it 'just in case'.
''Theodore stop teasing'' you had never been this in need of him and his teasing wasn't helping.
''Not a chance baby'' he laughed at your desperation.
Moving onto his jeans which fit perfectly round his body, he embarrassingly struggled to undo the button and zip with just one hand. But he wasn't going to let you know that.
Eventually he manged, pulling his jeans down to his knees. He grabbed his thick shaft and teased your opening with just the tip.
''THEO'' you screamed at him.
A fast and hard slap reaches your ass. ''Do i have to remind you every fucking time?''
''No sorry... Theodore i need you.'' you didn't know how to get him to fuck you faster.
He leant forward and snuck a hand round your neck nibbling your ear lobe.
''Beg me'' he whispered in your ear, slightly moaning.
You started begging in every way you knew how, moaning and squirming (which he put a stop to quickly). He let you beg for a couple minutes before slowly pushing deep inside.
He started pounding slow and steading but speeding up quickly.
His pounding lasting, still grabbing your neck.
With a couple slaps and grabs to your ass with his free hand, it didn't take you long to reach your climax...
Theo could tell you were close and, wanting to cum with you, he decided he would let you cum today.
''Cum with me'' Theo was demading more than anything.
With some moans and a bit more fucking, you came together, moans intertwined. Theo moaning, and spilling out some 'fucks' and 'shits', directly in your ear as he hadn't left your side. Hand still on your neck.
He released his hand from your neck, pushing himself up, and slowly pulled out as you were super sensitive. You collapsed on the bed and Theo snuggled up to your side hand around your chest cupping your face stroking gently.
''You did so good baby'' he smiles as he says this.
You cuddled like this for the rest of the evening before fianlly getting up to change into pyjamas. You stayed in Theo's dorm that night cuddling while he said sweet nothing to you as you fell asleep.
#harry potter fandom#harry potter#slytherin#theodore nott#slytherin boys#theodore nott x you#theodore nott smut#theodore nott x reader
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#mARTch 2024
text version (with more info!) under the readmore! please check it out if you're confused about anything <3
F.A.Q
do i have to draw every day?
no!!!! there are skippable days built into the event, please use them whenever you need them! i really don't want anyone getting a wrist injury!
can you share my art?
yep! i try to share entries to @bweirdevents daily during the event!! the tags can get busy tho so i might miss some posts OTL sorry
what are the tags?
#mARTch is the main tag, but this year you might find posts in #mARTch2024 too!
wait, i'm confused about a prompt...
full breakdown of all the prompts below ↓ with helpful hints if you're stuck!
_____
INTRO WEEK
this week is all about your artistic identity ... technically, you don't have to draw anything new this week if you have some art that already fits. the starter days are:
1 ⭐ self portrait
who are you? it doesn't have to be you IRL .. if you feel more comfortable drawing a fursona or mascot, that's fine too!
if you don't wanna draw, you can also just share old self portraits today and talk about why you drew yourself that way!
2 🤍 inspirations
see how this day doesn't have a star? that means it's optional and you don't have to do it at all!
but if you really wanna- tell us all about what inspires you to create art!
this could be anything from the people that inspire you, the shows you like, the pins on your big messy pinterest board, or concepts that you're drawn to! you can draw something about it, talk about it, or just post your inspirations! anything is fine
3 ⭐ fav thing to draw
what do you like drawing most? backgrounds? animals? one specific animal? bust of your oc facing left? cars? the same anime boy over and over and over? no judgement!! show us :)
_____
STUDY WEEK
this is the week we actually start drawing from reference!
polished art is not required at all, quick sketch studies are fine! please don't burn yourself out
4 🤍 plant
5 🤍 body
6 ⭐ animal
7 🤍 object
8 🤍 food
9 🤍 face
10 ⭐ hand
these ones are pretty self explanatory!
you can do them as realistic studies, or adapt them into your own art style, it's all fine! you can reference from your own photos or from resources on the web.. have fun!
_____
COLOUR WEEK
this is the week for playing with palettes and working on your colour theory skills!
if you're really struggling with these ones, don't worry about drawing scenes or characters, you can just have fun splashing colours around on an abstract canvas!
11 🤍 RGB
a set or primary colours typically used in digital/screen art - red, green and blue!
12 🤍 CMYK
a set of primary colours typically used in traditional/print art - cyan, magenta, yellow ... and key (black!)
for both of these days ↑ you can add in black and white.
and feel free to combine the two days into one, if you're struggling with a three-colour palette! use all six!
13 ⭐ WARM COLOURS
the warm side of the colour wheel, reds oranges and yellows!
14 🤍 MONOCHROME
monochrome doesn't mean black and white ... it means one colour! that can be any colour at all- shades of red, shades of purple, shades of green .. or yeah, grey if you really want!
15 🤍 COMPLIMENTARY
complimentary colours are the ones opposite each other on the colour wheel! they're kinda married
16 🤍 YOUR FAV COLOURS
pick any palette that works for you! where's your comfort zone? what looks nice to you? what colour combos do you always go back to?
17 ⭐ COOL COLOURS
the cool side of the colour wheel, purples, blues and greens!
_____
CREATIVITY WEEK
this week is all about vibes! try to create something that matches the mood of the prompt .. they're vague on purpose! don't overthink it, just draw from the heart!
18 🤍 SMALL
you could draw something that's really small, like an ant .. or draw on a canvas that's really small .. or use a really small brush .. get creative with it!
19 🤍 DANGER
try to capture the adrenaline .. the rush .. the fear that you associate with the word danger!
20 ⭐ SOFT
soft colours, soft textures, soft vibes ... whatever makes you comfy!
21 🤍 MIDNIGHT
darkness and secrecy .. spooky witchy vibes .. the tranquility of a forest at night .. the fun of a late-night party .. there's lots of ways you can take this!
22 🤍 POWER
what does this word make you think about? superpowers? control and oppression? literal electrical power? something else?
23 🤍 CHILL
chill as in calm? or chill as in cold? who knows .. it's up to YOU!
24 ⭐ LOUD
try to draw something that feels LOUD! BRASH! IN YOUR FACE! how can you convey sound through art?
_____
FUN + GAMES WEEK
this week is just for enjoying yourself! take it easy and have fun!
also .. another reminder! there are skippable prompts! if you're tired and struggling to get to the finish line, please don't hesitate to skip a day!!! or multiple days!! as many as you need!!!
25 🤍 TRY A NEW ART STYLE
copy the art style of a show you like, ask a friend if you can try their style, draw the eyes a new way, develop a totally new style on the spot... whatever you want!
26 🤍 DRAW WITH YOUR NON-DOMINANT HAND
righties, draw with your left!
lefties, draw with your right!
ambidextrous nation ... our time to show off!
27 ⭐ DRAW WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED
don't peek! try to draw something without looking!
if you really want, you can colour it with your eyes open after you draw the lines/sketch with your eyes closed... but please try not to cheat with the actual drawing part!
28 🤍 RE-DRAW SOMETHING OLD
find some old artwork you like, or something you feel like you can do better on now, and give it another go!
29 🤍 RE-DRAW A MEME
find a silly picture on the internet to redraw .. do you have any in-jokes with your besties?
30 🤍 DRAW A GIFT FOR A FRIEND
create something for someone you love <3
31 ⭐ FREE CHOICE
final day! you can draw anything you want today! show off your skills! draw something you've been meaning to draw! whatever!
_____
please refrain from reblogging this post after march ends - next year's prompts will be different, thank you!
if you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to shoot me an ask!
#🎨#mARTch#mARTch2024#events#art meme#art prompt#art prompts#art challenge#drawing prompt#drawing prompts#drawing challenge#march
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please dont trigger warn food it prevents recovery from EDs and can cause relapses
I was under the impression that the use of tags similar to the one I used (and all trigger warning tags in general) were to prevent what you said would happen, from happening anon. If anyone has more insight on the issues of trigger warning tags and when they should be used, please feel free to add your comments.
#asks#anons#got something to say to you*#this is something I don’t have much clarity on so if anyone knows anything please add on#like I know everyone is at different stages with recovery#I know everyone has different feelings on this stuff and some people would prefer them and others don’t#I think this is just something that’s up to the discretion of individual bloggers#what I’m confused by is if someone has this tag and others like it blacklisted/filtered out/whatever how they’re still seeing the post#it gives the impression that they’re actively seeking it out and I don’t really have power over an individual’s actions#I’m aware that there are various communities on here some deal with recovery others for lack of better term kinda glamourize it#there isn’t a way for me to meet every single person’s needs on this matter#I had thought that trigger warnings were intended to stop people from being triggered/give them a heads up about content#I also thought there were instances for religious observation where similar tags are used#I know that sometimes people can be having a rough day and something that seems small can be a trigger#I would rather be over cautious than not at all#also if there are any tags that people want me to tag things with in the future please let me know#like please feel free to dm me about needing a specific tag added to particular posts#I know tumblr switched up the order of where things go in the tags to work but it’s been a bit since I’ve seen that post#I tried looking some stuff up this morning but it all kinda was conflicting one another
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